The geological storage of CO2 entails navigating the intricate phase behaviour of CO2+X, where "X" represents impurities, such as nitrogen, argon, methane, SOx, NOx, etc., in the injected CO2 stream, or the in-situ fluids like brine and hydrocarbon phases that interact with CO2.
This PhD project is part of the CO2plus project that aims to acquire systematic knowledge and develop the essential modelling approach for analyzing the complex phase behaviour of CO2+X in injection and storage.
The overarching goals of the CO2plus project encompass the establishment of a comprehensive database, the measurement of data for critically selected properties, the development of models for CO2+X, and the creation of systematic methods for integrating the acquired knowledge (data and models) into simulation analysis.
The specific focus of this PhD project lies in data measurement, with additional involvement in data collection, database establishment, and modelling of the measured or collected data.
The scope of the experimental measurement encompasses critical parameters such as CO2 solubility, brine density and viscosity, and CO2 diffusion coefficients, all integral to effective CO2 storage. CO2 solubility is a fundamental equilibrium property for solubility trapping, while brine density and viscosity influence CO2 plume development through gravity-driven convection and pressure-driven flow, respectively.
Additionally, CO2 diffusion directly impacts dissolution rates. The measurement will account for impurities in the supercritical CO2 phase, originating from injected CO2 and components extracted from in-situ fluids. The research will explore crucial influencing factors, including brine compositions, salinities, co-existing hydrocarbon phases, and the rocks (such as chalk) sensitive to dissolved CO2. The study of CO2 diffusion will extend to porous rock samples from candidate reservoirs.
Main supervisor: Prof. Wei Yan
Co- supervisor: Marc Cassiede and Sonja Smith