Measurement and modeling of CO 2 solubility in NaCl brine and CO 2–saturated NaCl brine density

Abstract

Phase equilibrium for CO 2–NaCl brine is of general interest to many scientific disciplines and technical areas. The system is particularly important to CO 2 sequestration in deep saline aquifers and CO 2 enhanced oil recovery, two techniques discussed intensively in recent years due to the concerns over climate change and energy security. This work is an experimental and modeling study of two fundamental properties in high pressure CO 2–NaCl brine equilibrium, i.e., CO 2 solubility in NaCl brine and CO 2–saturated NaCl brine density. A literature review of the available data was presented first to illustrate the necessity of experimental measurements of the two properties at high pressures. An experimental method for measuring high pressure CO 2 solubility in NaCl brine was then developed. With the method, CO 2 solubilities in 0, 1, and 5 m NaCl brines were measured at 323, 373, and 413 K from 5 to 40 MPa. The corresponding density data at the same conditions were also measured. For solubility, two models used in the Eclipse simulator were tested: the correlations of Chang et al. and the Søreide and Whitson equation of state (EoS) model. The latter model was modified to improve its performance for high salinity brine. In the density modeling, the correlations of Chang et al., Garcia's correlation, and five different EoS models were tested. Among these models, Garcia's correlation and the ePC-SAFT EoS generally give satisfactory agreement with the experimental measurements. An analysis was also made to show that dissolution of CO 2 increases the brine density only if the apparent mass density of CO 2 in brine is higher than the brine density at the same conditions.