Observational evidence confirms modelling of the long-term integrity of CO2-reservoir caprocks

Kampman, N.; Busch, A.; Bertier, P.; Snippe, J.; Hangx, S.; Pipich, V.; Di, Z.; Rother, G.; Harrington, J. F.; Evans, J. P.; Maskell, A.; Chapman, H. J.; Bickle, M. J.

doi:10.1038/ncomms12268

Title: Observational evidence confirms modelling of the long-term integrity of CO₂-reservoir caprocks

Journal Article · Thu Jul 28 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12268· OSTI ID:1279389

Kampman, N. ^[1];

^[2];

^[3]; Snippe, J. ^[2]; Hangx, S. ^[4]; Pipich, V. ^[5]; Di, Z. ^[5]; Rother, G. ^[6]; Harrington, J. F. ^[7]; Evans, J. P. ^[8]; Maskell, A. ^[9]; Chapman, H. J. ^[9]; Bickle, M. J. ^[9]

Shell Global Solutions International, Rijswijk (Netherlands); Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
Shell Global Solutions International, Rijswijk (Netherlands)
RWTH Aachen Univ. (Germany)
Univ. of Utrecht (Netherlands)
Julich Research Centre (Germany)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
British Geological Survey, Nottingham (United Kingdom)
Utah State Univ., Logan, UT (United States)
Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom)

Storage of anthropogenic CO₂ in geological formations relies on a caprock as the primary seal preventing buoyant super-critical CO₂ escaping. Although natural CO₂ reservoirs demonstrate that CO₂ may be stored safely for millions of years, uncertainty remains in predicting how caprocks will react with CO₂-bearing brines. The resulting uncertainty poses a significant challenge to the risk assessment of geological carbon storage. We describe mineral reaction fronts in a CO₂ reservoir-caprock system exposed to CO₂ over a timescale comparable with that needed for geological carbon storage. Moreover, the propagation of the reaction front is retarded by redox-sensitive mineral dissolution reactions and carbonate precipitation, which reduces its penetration into the caprock to ~7 cm in ~10⁵ years. This distance is an order-of-magnitude smaller than previous predictions. The results attest to the significance of transport-limited reactions to the long-term integrity of sealing behaviour in caprocks exposed to CO₂.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 (NCGC)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; NE/F004699/1; AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1279389

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 7; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 84 works

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