Geochemical narrowing of cement fracture aperture during multiphase flow of supercritical CO2 and brine

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EDT 2020 · International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2020.102978· OSTI ID:1597637

Rod, Kenton A. ^[1]; Iyer, Jaisree K. ^[2]; Lonergan, Charmayne E. ^[1]; Varga, Tamas ^[1]; Cantrell, Kirk J. ^[1]; Reno, Loren R. ^[1]

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1. BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

For carbon capture and storage operations, wells are used as a necessary conduit for injecting CO2 at depth, but they can also act as leakage conduits if the cement seals are compromised. The specific objective of this research was to investigate the nature of self-healing of a fracture within cement under multiphase flow of CO2 and brine, and to compare this to a newly developed model. This was accomplished through a laboratory investigation, flowing reacting supercritical CO2 and brine through a cement fracture with multiphase flow. The influent end of the fracture was degraded as evidenced by the formation of cracks across the surface. At the effluent end of the fracture, the initial aperture of 137 µm was reduced to 50 µm. This reduction by 87 µm was similar to results from a recently developed model tested in this study, which predicted an aperture reduction of 80 µm. Our results demonstrated that the model accurately predicted the reactions which occurred in this multiphase flow system.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1597637
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-144527
• Journal Information: International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Journal Name: International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control Vol. 95
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

wellbore
cement
fracture
multiphase-flow
supercritical-CO2
brine