_ This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 220815, “Accelerated Carbon Capture and Storage Through Mineral Carbonation: A Laboratory-Scale Investigation, ” by Leila Karabayanova, SPE, Murad Hajiyev, SPE, and Mariam Isabel Hernandez Madero, SPE, Texas A&M University, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed. _ Among various CO2 sequestration methods, mineral trapping is recognized for its superior safety and extensive CO2-storage capacity. This study presents a novel methodology for assessing the rapid mineral carbonation of CO2 through geochemical interactions with carbon-, magnesium-, and iron-rich minerals abundant in geological formations. The approach and findings of the complete paper reveal that carbon storage can be successfully implemented in a matter of hours under laboratory conditions even at atmospheric pressure, effectively bridging a significant gap in the literature where experimental investigation of mineral carbonation has not been extensively explored. Introduction Because carbon mineralization in reservoir rocks might take thousands of years, this type of CO2 storage has been almost neglected in the literature except for a few studies where the primary focus of the experiments was merely the investigation of the alterations in the rock petrophysical and mechanical properties because of CO2 injection. This study presents a novel approach to investigate carbon mineralization from different perspectives, including quantitative evaluation of carbon uptake by different calcium- and magnesium-rich minerals contained in the composition of most formation rocks at various experimental conditions such as temperature, heating rate, and influence of total dissolved solids (TDS) in the aqueous phase on CO2 storage on the surface of the mineral. Furthermore, apart from evaluating the carbon-uptake values, the contribution of CO2 exposure to the alteration of the surface void space of the mineral sample with and without an aqueous phase has been studied extensively. Materials and Methods After an extensive literature review, four magnesium-, calcium-, and iron-rich minerals were selected for CO2 exposure under various conditions: olivine, dolomite, gypsum, and magnetite. Table 1 of the complete paper provides the physical characteristics of these minerals, along with their potential reactions to CO2 exposure and temperature increases. Two water samples, distilled water and formation brine collected from the Delaware Basin, were used to evaluate the effect of the aqueous phase presence and TDS of the selected minerals on carbon-uptake values. A comprehensive methodology was established to investigate the effects of temperature, heating rate, and aqueous-phase presence on carbon uptake at atmospheric pressure within a period of less than 1 hour (Fig. 1). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were performed. The samples, either as pure minerals or mixed with distilled water or brine, were subjected to CO2 injection while being heated at different rates and maximum temperatures. The energy changes during CO2 reactions were recorded. A novel approach combining TGA/DSC and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry analyses was developed to calculate carbon uptake after CO2 exposure. To validate these values, results were cross-checked and normalized using stable elements unaffected by CO2 exposure.
Chris Carpenter (Mon,) studied this question.