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Polites EG, Schaef HT, Horner JA, Owen AT, Holliman JE, McGrail BP, Miller QRS. Exotic Carbonate Mineralization Recovered from a Deep Basalt Carbon Storage Demonstration. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2022; 56:14713-14722. [PMID: 36166676 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c03269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Mitigating climate change requires transformational advances for carbon dioxide removal, including geologic carbon sequestration in reactive subsurface environments. The Wallula Basalt Carbon Storage Pilot Project demonstrated that CO2 injected into >800 m deep Columbia River Basalt Group flow top reservoirs mineralizes on month-year timescales. Herein, we present new optical petrography, micro-computed X-ray tomography, and electron microscopy results obtained from sidewall cores collected two years after CO2 injection. As no other anthropogenic carbonates from geologic carbon storage field studies have been recovered, this world-unique sample suite provides unparalleled insight for subsurface carbon mineralization products and paragenesis. Chemically zoned nodules with Ca/Mn-rich cores and Fe-dominant outer rims are prominent examples of the neoformed carbonate assemblages with ankerite-siderite compositions and exotic divalent cation correlations. Paragenetic insights for the timing of aragonite, silica, and fibrous zeolites are clarified based on mineral texture and spatial relationships, along with time-resolved downhole fluid sampling. Collectively, these results clarify the mineralogy, chemistry, and paragenesis of carbon mineralization, providing insight into the ultimate fate and transport of CO2 in reactive mafic-ultramafic reservoirs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ellen G Polites
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82071, United States
| | - H Todd Schaef
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Jake A Horner
- Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Antoinette T Owen
- Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Jade E Holliman
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - B Peter McGrail
- Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Quin R S Miller
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
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Kerisit SN, Mergelsberg ST, Thompson CJ, White SK, Loring JS. Thin Water Films Enable Low-Temperature Magnesite Growth Under Conditions Relevant to Geologic Carbon Sequestration. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2021; 55:12539-12548. [PMID: 34491048 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c03370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Injecting supercritical CO2 (scCO2) into basalt formations for long-term storage is a promising strategy for mitigating CO2 emissions. Mineral carbonation can result in permanent entrapment of CO2; however, carbonation kinetics in thin H2O films in humidified scCO2 is not well understood. We investigated forsterite (Mg2SiO4) carbonation to magnesite (MgCO3) via amorphous magnesium carbonate (AMC; MgCO3·xH2O, 0.5 < x < 1), with the goal to establish the fundamental controls on magnesite growth rates at low H2O activity and temperature. Experiments were conducted at 25, 40, and 50 °C in 90 bar CO2 with a H2O film thickness on forsterite that averaged 1.78 ± 0.05 monolayers. In situ infrared spectroscopy was used to monitor forsterite dissolution and the growth of AMC, magnesite, and amorphous SiO2 as a function of time. Geochemical kinetic modeling showed that magnesite was supersaturated by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude and grew according to a zero-order rate law. The results indicate that the main drivers for magnesite growth are sustained high supersaturation coupled with low H2O activity, a combination of thermodynamic conditions not attainable in bulk aqueous solution. This improved understanding of reaction kinetics can inform subsurface reactive transport models for better predictions of CO2 fate and transport.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastien N Kerisit
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Sebastian T Mergelsberg
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Christopher J Thompson
- Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Signe K White
- Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - John S Loring
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
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Can East African rift basalts sequester CO2? Case study of the Kenya rift. SCIENTIFIC AFRICAN 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.sciaf.2021.e00924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
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Placencia-Gómez E, Kerisit SN, Mehta HS, Qafoku O, Thompson CJ, Graham TR, Ilton ES, Loring JS. Critical Water Coverage during Forsterite Carbonation in Thin Water Films: Activating Dissolution and Mass Transport. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2020; 54:6888-6899. [PMID: 32383859 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c00897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
In geologic carbon sequestration, CO2 is injected into geologic reservoirs as a supercritical fluid (scCO2). The carbonation of divalent silicates exposed to humidified scCO2 occurs in angstroms to nanometers thick adsorbed H2O films. A threshold H2O film thickness is required for carbonate precipitation, but a mechanistic understanding is lacking. In this study, we investigated carbonation of forsterite (Mg2SiO4) in humidified scCO2 (50 °C and 90 bar), which serves as a model system for understanding subsurface divalent silicate carbonation reactivity. Attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy pinpointed that magnesium carbonate precipitation begins at 1.5 monolayers of adsorbed H2O. At about this same H2O coverage, transmission infrared spectroscopy showed that forsterite dissolution begins and electrical impedance spectroscopy demonstrated that diffusive transport accelerates. Molecular dynamics simulations indicated that the onset of diffusion is due to an abrupt decrease in the free-energy barriers for lateral mobility of outer-spherically adsorbed Mg2+. The dissolution and mass transport controls on divalent silicate reactivity in wet scCO2 could be advantageous for maximizing permeability near the wellbore and minimize leakage through the caprock.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edmundo Placencia-Gómez
- Département ArGEnCo/Géophysique appliquée, Urban and Environmental Engineering, University of Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium
| | - Sebastien N Kerisit
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Hardeep S Mehta
- Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Odeta Qafoku
- Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Christopher J Thompson
- Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Trent R Graham
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Eugene S Ilton
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - John S Loring
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
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He D, Jiang P, Xu R. Pore-Scale Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Supercritical CO 2 Injection Rate and Surface Wettability on Salt Precipitation. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2019; 53:14744-14751. [PMID: 31729869 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b03323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Injectivity is one of the most important factors to evaluate the feasibility of CO2 geological storage. Salt precipitation due to the mass of dry CO2 injected into a saline reservoir may cause a significant decrease in injectivity. However, the coupling effect of injection parameters and reservoir conditions on salt precipitation is not clear. Here, we conducted pore-scale visualization experiments to study the morphology and distribution of salt precipitation in porous structures and their effects on permeability reduction. The experimental results are achieved by controlling the supercritical CO2 injection rate and the surface wettability at the reservoir temperature and pressure. It is found that for hydrophilic and neutral porous surfaces, ex situ precipitation occurs and blocks the entirety of pore throats and bodies, which results in a significant reduction in permeability. Increasing the CO2 injection rate can suppress the capillary reflow and prevent the permeability reduction. For a hydrophobic porous surface, in situ precipitation occurs and occupies much smaller pore volume, which has a slight effect on permeability reduction compared to the hydrophilic samples at the same injection rate. Increasing the CO2 injection rate and dewetting the injection well and formation nearby reduce the possibility of salt accumulation, which has less effect on CO2 injectivity.
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Menefee AH, Li P, Giammar DE, Ellis BR. Roles of Transport Limitations and Mineral Heterogeneity in Carbonation of Fractured Basalts. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2017; 51:9352-9362. [PMID: 28700215 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b00326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Basalt formations could enable secure long-term carbon storage by trapping injected CO2 as stable carbonates. Here, a predictive modeling framework was designed to evaluate the roles of transport limitations and mineral spatial distributions on mineral dissolution and carbonation reactions in fractured basalts exposed to CO2-acidified fluids. Reactive transport models were developed in CrunchTope based on data from high-temperature, high-pressure flow-through experiments. Models isolating the effect of transport compared nine flow conditions under the same mineralogy. Heterogeneities were incorporated by segmenting an actual reacted basalt sample, and these results were compared to equivalent flow conditions through randomly generated mineral distributions with the same bulk composition. While pure advective flow with shorter retention times promotes rapid initial carbonation, pure diffusion sustains mineral reactions for longer time frames and generates greater net carbonate volumes. For the same transport conditions and bulk composition, exact mineral spatial distributions do not impact the amount of carbonation but could determine the location by controlling local solution saturation with respect to secondary carbonates. In combination, the results indicate that bulk mineralogy will be more significant than small-scale heterogeneities in controlling the rate and extent of CO2 mineralization, which will likely occur in diffusive zones adjacent to flow paths or in dead-end fractures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne H Menefee
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Peiyuan Li
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Daniel E Giammar
- Department of Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering, Washington University , St. Louis, Missouri 63130, United States
| | - Brian R Ellis
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
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