Geochemical impact of aquifer storage for impure CO2 containing O2 and N2: Tongliao field experiment

• An aquifer storage of impure CO2 containing N2 and O2 was studied with geochemical monitoring.
• Chemical reactions are clearly pH and redox sensitive.
• O2 enhances the remobilization of certain minerals in the aquifer formation.
• The migrations of geochemical components are very complex in fluvial formation.
• Chromatographic partitioning processes of chemical components occur in both aqueous and gaseous phases.

Impurities such as N2 and O2 can be co-injected with CO2 to cut the overall cost of carbon capture and geological storage by lowering the CO2 capture cost. However, only few field-scale studies have focused on the effect of these impurities, such as N2 and O2, with low solubility and a low reaction rate in a CO2 stream. A pilot-scale experiment on impure CO2 aquifer storage containing N2 and O2 was conducted in Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, China, where 200 tonnes of CO2 and 30 tonnes of air were injected into the upper Yaojia Formation. The geochemical characteristics of flow-back formation fluid in three monitoring wells were investigated by using a U-tube-based sampling system. The following conclusions can be drawn from the preliminary geochemistry analysis: (1) The underground chemical reactions in the CO2 and air co-injection process are clearly pH and redox sensitive, which is in contrast with pure CO2 aquifer storage. Oxygen enhances the remobilization of certain minerals in the aquifer formation and provides new reactive tracers such as uranium and SO42−. (2) The migration pattern of the formation fluid and the geochemical components in the fluid are very complex, particularly when the reservoir exhibits high heterogeneities of geology, mineralogy, and groundwater chemistry. (3) Chromatographic partitioning processes of chemical components occur in both aqueous and gaseous phases. In the aqueous phase, the dissolved O2 and CO2 arrive at the monitoring wells earlier than they do in the gaseous plume. The CO2-induced ions arrive at the monitoring wells earlier than the O2-induced ions; however, the dissolved O2 arrives earlier than the dissolved CO2. The N2 and O2 in the gas mixture arrive at the monitoring wells earlier than CO2 and form the migration front of the underground gas stream. This study provides a new dataset for evaluating possible scenarios of underground migration behavior and metal remobilization in response to the co-injection of CO2 with O2, and N2.

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