Wettability impact on supercritical CO2 capillary trapping: Pore‐scale visualization and quantification

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AbstractHow the wettability of pore surfaces affects supercritical (sc) CO2 capillary trapping in geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) is not well understood, and available evidence appears inconsistent. Using a high‐pressure micromodel‐microscopy system with image analysis, we studied the impact of wettability on scCO2 capillary trapping during short‐term brine flooding (80 s, 8–667 pore volumes). Experiments on brine displacing scCO2 were conducted at 8.5 MPa and 45°C in water‐wet (static contact angle θ = 20° ± 8°) and intermediate‐wet (θ = 94° ± 13°) homogeneous micromodels under four different flow rates (capillary number Ca ranging from 9 × 10−6 to 8 × 10−4) with a total of eight conditions (four replicates for each). Brine invasion processes were recorded and statistical analysis was performed for over 2000 images of scCO2 saturations, and scCO2 cluster characteristics. The trapped scCO2 saturation under intermediate‐wet conditions is 15% higher than under water‐wet conditions under the slowest flow rate (Ca ∼ 9 × 10−6). Based on the visualization and scCO2 cluster analysis, we show that the scCO2 trapping process in our micromodels is governed by bypass trapping that is enhanced by the larger contact angle. Smaller contact angles enhance cooperative pore filling and widen brine fingers (or channels), leading to smaller volumes of scCO2 being bypassed. Increased flow rates suppress this wettability effect.