Water reactivity in the liquid and supercritical CO2 phase: Has half the story been neglected?

Abstract

Aqueous-phase mediated chemical reactions with dissolved CO2 have long been considered the principal if not only reactive process supporting mineralization reactions with basalt and other reactive reservoir rocks and caprocks in deep geologic sequestration systems. This is not surprising given the quite high solubility of CO2 in the aqueous phase and ample evidence from natural systems of the reactivity of CO2-charged waters with a variety of silicate minerals. In contrast, comparatively scant attention has been directed at reactivity of water solvated in liquid and supercritical CO2, with the exception of interest in the impacts of water in CO2 on the corrosion of pipeline steels. The results presented in this paper show that the most interesting and important aspects of water reactivity with metal and oxide surfaces of interest in geologic sequestration systems actually occurs in the liquid or supercritical CO2 phase. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle for the US Department of Energy.