Reactive transport simulation study of geochemical CO2 trapping on the Tokyo Bay model – With focus on the behavior of dawsonite

Abstract

A long-term (up to 10ka) geochemical change in saline aquifer CO2 storage was studied using the TOUGHREACT simulator, on a 2-dimensional, 2-layered model representing the underground geologic and hydrogeologic conditions of the Tokyo Bay area that is one of the areas of the largest CO2 emissions in the world. In the storage system characterized by low permeability of reservoir and cap rock, the dominant storage mechanism is found to be solubility trapping that includes the dissolution and dissociation of injected CO2 in the aqueous phase followed by geochemical reactions to dissolve minerals in the rocks. The CO2–water–rock interaction in the storage system (mainly in the reservoir) changes the properties of water in a mushroom-like CO2 plume, which eventually leads to convective mixing driven by gravitational instability. The geochemically evolved aqueous phase precipitates carbonates in the plume front due to a local rise in pH with mixing of unaffected reservoir water. The carbonate precipitation occurs extensively within the plume after the end of its enlargement, fixing injected CO2 in a long, geologic period.Dawsonite, a Na–Al carbonate, is initially formed throughout the plume from consumption of plagioclase in the reservoir rock, but is found to be a transient phase finally disappearing from most of the CO2-affected part of the system. The mineral is unstable relative to more common types of carbonates in the geochemical evolution of the CO2 storage system initially having formation water of relatively low salinity. The exception is the reservoir-cap rock boundary where CO2 saturation remains very high throughout the simulation period.