Two-dimensional micromodels for studying the convective dissolution of carbon dioxide in 2D water-saturated porous media.

Convective dissolution is a perennial trapping mechanism of carbon dioxide in geological formations saturated with an aqueous phase. This process, which couples dissolution of supercritical CO, convection of the liquid containing the dissolved CO, and mixing of the latter within the liquid, has so far not been studied in two-dimensional porous media. In order to do so, two-dimensional (2D) porous micromodels (patterned Hele-Shaw cells) have been fabricated from UV-curable NOA63 glue.