Permanent CO Trapping through Localized and Chemical Gradient-Driven Basalt Carbonation.

Recent laboratory and field studies have demonstrated that basalt formations may present one of the most secure repositories for anthropogenic CO emissions through carbon mineralization. In this work, a series of high-temperature, high-pressure core flooding experiments was conducted to investigate how transport limitations, reservoir temperature, and brine chemistry impact carbonation reactions following injection of CO-rich aqueous fluids into fractured basalts. At 100 °C and 6.

Roles of Transport Limitations and Mineral Heterogeneity in Carbonation of Fractured Basalts.

Basalt formations could enable secure long-term carbon storage by trapping injected CO as stable carbonates. Here, a predictive modeling framework was designed to evaluate the roles of transport limitations and mineral spatial distributions on mineral dissolution and carbonation reactions in fractured basalts exposed to CO-acidified fluids. Reactive transport models were developed in CrunchTope based on data from high-temperature, high-pressure flow-through experiments.

Environmental Life Cycle Analysis of Water and CO-Based Fracturing Fluids Used in Unconventional Gas Production.

Many of the environmental impacts associated with hydraulic fracturing of unconventional gas wells are tied to the large volumes of water that such operations require. Efforts to develop nonaqueous alternatives have focused on carbon dioxide as a tunable working fluid even though the full environmental and production impacts of a switch away from water have yet to be quantified. Here we report on a life cycle analysis of using either water or CO for gas production in the Marcellus shale.