IDR: Collaborative Research: A Partnership for Multiscale Experimental Study of CO2 Leakage and Vertical Flow in Geologic Carbon Sequestration

地质固碳技术（GCS）可能在近期提供碳中和能源的努力中发挥重要作用，尽管尚未明确证明注入深层地质构造的二氧化碳将保持原位。该项目集合了一个跨学科的合作伙伴，研究驱动或抑制二氧化碳通过地层盖层泄漏的条件，以及浮力驱动的二氧化碳通过盖层和多孔介质的运输。这种综合和多学科的努力将产生实验数据，以弥合地球化学反应的实验尺度工作与现实世界中千米尺度的GCS模拟之间的差距。这项多尺度研究的核心是两个新的高压实验试验台：一个是核心尺度（厘米尺度）的容器，用于研究盖层样品的反应和流动（在普林斯顿）；另一个是大型（6米）的加压柱，用于观察沉积介质中二氧化碳的垂直流动（在弗吉尼亚大学）。该方法将实验观察与两个关键的观察和推断工具相结合：(1)一套基于实验室和同步加速器的成像方法，以阐明和量化孔隙/裂缝中的矿物反应和变化（在布鲁克海文国家实验室（BNL））；(2)反应输移建模，以推断反应速率，建立预测能力，并进行数值实验。这项工作旨在为理解最终决定GCS可行性的过程提供关键的新见解。人们对这些过程知之甚少，因为在高压条件下，在实际的长度尺度上，以一种综合的方式研究反应和两相流是具有挑战性的。非均质介质中的反应在小空间尺度（纳米到m）上观察效果最好，而在大尺度（m到km）上观察效果最好。该项目将阐明这些过程之间的相互关系，并为该领域的许多长期存在的问题提供答案，例如：导致盖层流动路径侵蚀或自密封的条件是什么？矿物表面的地球化学变化是如何改变二氧化碳流动的？长程浮力CO2流动是否会因毛细管作用、粘度、溶解度和焦耳-汤姆逊冷却的复杂性而加速或减慢？任何一门学科都不能有效地回答这些问题。该项目的跨学科团队结合了环境工程师和高压流体相行为（AFC）专家的专业知识，一位在GCS研究（CAP）方面拥有超过十年经验的地球环境工程师和一位在先进x射线成像技术（JPF）方面拥有超过15年经验的地球化学家。通过确定决定深部地质储层安全有效封存CO2的关键因素，本研究将产生更广泛的影响。这项工作将为美国实现2010年总统指令的努力提供关键的投入，该指令要求在10年内克服CCS广泛部署的障碍。此外，实验试验台是对CO2在多孔和裂隙介质中流动和反应的长期研究的投资。从这些实验中吸取的经验教训可以应用于目前正在开发的大型设施的设计。这项研究还代表了将全球环境变化和碳中和能源引入弗吉尼亚大学和普林斯顿大学课程的努力，并利用布鲁克海文？该项目旨在使高中生能够远程访问基于同步加速器的x射线成像设备的实验时间。

1134397 Clarens/1133849 Peters Geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) is likely to play an important role in near-term efforts to provide carbon-neutral energy even though it has not yet been definitively demonstrated that CO2 injected into deep geologic formations will stay in place. This project assembles an interdisciplinary partnership to study the conditions that drive or inhibit leakage of CO2 through formation caprocks and the buoyancy-driven transport of CO2 through both caprocks and porous media. This integrated and multidisciplinary effort will generate experimental data to bridge the gap between bench-scale work on geochemical reactions and kilometer-scale simulations of GCS in the real world. Central to the proposed multiscale study are two novel high-pressure experimental test beds: a core-scale (cm-scale) vessel to study reaction and flow in caprock specimens (at Princeton), and a large-scale (6 m) pressurized column in which vertical flow of CO2 will be observed in sedimentary media (at the University of Virginia (UVA)). This approach will integrate experimental observation with two key tools for observation and inference: (1) a suite of lab- and synchrotron-based imaging methods to elucidate and quantify mineral reactions and alterations in pores/fractures (at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL)), and (2) reactive transport modeling to infer reaction rates, build predictive capacity, and conduct numerical experiments. The work is targeted to provide new insight critical to understanding the processes that will ultimately determine the viability of GCS. These processes are poorly understood because it is challenging to study reactions and two-phase flow in an integrated way, under high-pressure conditions, over realistic length scales. Reactions in heterogeneous media are best observed at small spatial scales (nm to μm), while flow is best observed over large scales (m to km). This project will elucidate the interrelation of these processes and provide answers to many of the persistent questions in the field such as: What are the conditions that lead to erosion or self-sealing of caprock flow paths? How do geochemical alterations of mineral surfaces alter CO2 flow? Will long-range buoyant CO2 flow be accelerated or decelerated by complexities in capillarity, viscosity, solubility, and Joule-Thomson cooling? These questions cannot be answered effectively by any single discipline. The project interdisciplinary team combines the expertise of an environmental engineer and expert in high-pressure fluid phase behavior (AFC), a geoenvironmental engineer with over a decade of experience in GCS research (CAP) and a geochemist with over 15 years of experience in advanced x-ray imaging techniques (JPF). This research will achieve broader impacts by identifying critical factors that determine the safe and effective sequestration of CO2 in deep geological reservoirs. The work will provide critical inputs to the effort of the United States to achieve the 2010 Presidential directive of overcoming the barriers to the widespread deployment of CCS within ten years. Furthermore, the experimental test beds constitute an investment in long-term study of CO2 flow and reaction in porous and fractured media. Lessons learned from these experiments can be applied to the design of larger facilities currently under development. The research also represents an effort to introduce global environmental change and carbon-neutral energy into the curricula at UVa and Princeton, and to use Brookhaven?s InSync outreach program to enable high school students to have remote access to experimental time at a synchrotron-based x-ray imaging facility.