Effect of injected CO2 on geochemical alteration of the Altmark gas reservoir in Germany

Abstract

Capturing CO2 from point sources and storing it into geologic formations is a potential option to allaying the CO2 level in the atmosphere. In order to evaluate the effect of geological storage of CO2 on rock-water interaction, batch experiments were performed on sandstone samples taken from the Altmark reservoir, Germany, under insitu conditions of 125°C and 50 bar CO2 partial pressure. Two sets of experiments were performed on pulverized sample material placed inside a closed batch reactor in a) CO2 saturated and b) CO2 free environment for 5, 9 and 14 days. A 3M NaCl brine was used in both cases to mimic the reservoir formation water. For the "CO2 free" environment, Ar was used as a pressure medium. The sandstone was mainly composed of quartz, feldspars, anhydrite, calcite, illite and chlorite minerals. Chemical analyses of the liquid phase suggested dissolution of both calcite and anhydrite in both cases. However, dissolution of calcite was more pronounced in the presence of CO2. In addition, the presence of CO2 enhanced dissolution of feldspar minerals. Solid phase analysis by X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy did not show any secondary mineral precipitation. Moreover, Mössbauer analysis did not show any evidence of significant changes in redox conditions. Calculations of total dissolved solids concentrations indicated that the extent of mineral dissolution was enhanced by a factor of approximately 1.5 during the injection of CO2, which might improve the injectivity and storage capacity of the targeted reservoir. The experimental data provide a basis for numerical simulations to evaluate the effect of injected CO2 on long term geochemical alteration at reservoir scale

The chemical dissolution and physical migration of minerals induced during CO2 laboratory experiments: their relevance for reservoir quality

“…In former experimental studies on plugs of the Altmark reservoir sandstones the dissolution of carbonate and anhydrite, accompanied by an increase in rock porosity and permeability was already shown (Huq et al 2014;Pudlo et al 2012). This is confirmed by the decrease of Ca The distinct behavior of anhydrite (and carbonate) in the presence of pure CO 2 and CO 2 -SO 2 mixtures during laboratory experiments is described by, e.g., Kummerow Fig.…”

Flood characteristic and fluid rock interactions of a supercritical CO 2 , brine, rock system: South West Hub, Western Australia

“…Bowker et al, 1991;Emberly et al, 2005;Assayag et al, 2009) and in laboratory experiments (e.g. Berrezueta et al, 2013;Huq et al, 2014;Pudlo et al, 2015) with consequences reported on the permeability (Sayegh et al, 1990;Pudlo et al, 2015;Yasahura et al, 2015) and elastic/mechanical properties of the host rock (Daley et al, 2007;Oikawa et al, 2008;Zheng et al, 2015;Delle Piane and Sarout, submitted).…”