Premium
CO 2 Wettability of Sandstones: Addressing Conflicting Capillary Behaviors
Author(s) -
Garing C.,
Benson S. M.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl081359
Subject(s) - wetting , capillary pressure , capillary action , supercritical fluid , geology , scaling , imbibition , core sample , pore water pressure , brine , mineralogy , materials science , petroleum engineering , geotechnical engineering , core (optical fiber) , porous medium , composite material , chemistry , porosity , geometry , mathematics , organic chemistry , germination , botany , biology
Understanding the capillary and wetting behavior of supercritical CO 2 (scCO 2 ) and brine in reservoir rocks is crucial for reliable predictions of geologic carbon storage, as it strongly impacts CO 2 migration and residual trapping in the reservoir. The wetting state of such systems can be assessed through laboratory measurements of the capillary pressure characteristic curve. However, while some studies reported consistent scaling with strongly water wet systems, some others observed deviations from hydrophilic conditions. We present core‐flooding drainage capillary pressure measurements using scCO 2 /water and N 2 /water on a Berea sandstone, untreated, then fired, and then exposed to scCO 2 for 28 days. The purpose is to investigate the impact of firing and longer exposure to scCO 2 , two potential sources for variability in experimental observations, on capillarity and wettability. The results show excellent agreement among all the core‐flooding capillary pressure data, suggesting no change in wetting state due to firing or longer exposure.