Complications in drilling operations in basalt for CO2 sequestration: An overview

Abstract

The review article addresses the functional impediments of drilling in basaltic formation for CO2 storage. The rising temperature of earth due to increased emission of CO2 is an alarming situation for 8 billion people residing on the planet. Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt hosted the 27th Conference of the Parties of the united nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27-UNFCCC) where leaders from more than 100 nations gathered to discuss the solution that car bring back the temperature of earth to its optimum range. Out of several solutions like hydrogen economy, clean fuels, smart utilization of hydrocarbon and etc. carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) remain one of the crucial technologies that can help in tackling the situation of global warming by capturing CO2 directly from atmosphere. The captured CO2 can be utilized for generation of several products with CO2 as raw material or can be injected into geological formations. For gigatons scale of removal of CO2 from atmosphere storage into geological formation is the most economical and feasible option available. Geological formation like petroleum reservoirs, coal seams, basaltic sequences are the prospective sites for injection where CO2 can be stored and out of these available sites basaltic sequence storage is the most safe as it stores the CO2 as solid part of the formation (gaseous CO2 converts to solid CO2 in form pf carbonates) itself and is an fast process as almost all of the injected CO2 is reported to be stored permanently within two to three years as compared to other formations where it can takes thousands of years for phase change of CO2. Basaltic sequences are also advantageous due to their non-commercial value with a drawback of its hardness and abrasivity. The minerals that constitute the basalt attain the value of 6–7 on Mohr’s scale of hardness making it one of the hardest rocks on earth. This hardness and abrasivity of basalt are a major concern that impacts the drilling process and makes it complicated as well as uneconomical. Thus, this review article emphasizes on geology of basalt that generates complication while drilling procedures.