Quantification of CO Mineralization at the Wallula Basalt Pilot Project.

In 2013, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory led a geologic carbon sequestration field demonstration where ∼1000 tonnes of CO was injected into several deep Columbia River Basalt zones near Wallula, Washington. Rock core samples extracted from the injection zone two years after CO injection revealed nascent carbonate mineralization that was qualitatively consistent with expectations from laboratory experiments and reactive transport modeling. Here, we report on a new detailed analysis of the 2012 pre-injection and 2015 post-injection hydrologic tests that capitalizes on the difference in fluid properties between scCO and water to assess changes in near-field, wellbore, and reservoir conditions that are apparent approximately two years following the end of injection. This comparative hydrologic test analysis method provides a new way to quantify the amount of injected CO that was mineralized in the field test. Modeling results indicate that approximately 60% of the injected CO was sequestered via mineralization within two years, with the resulting carbonates occupying ∼4% of the available reservoir pore space. The method presented here provides a new monitoring tool to assess the fate of CO injected into chemically reactive basalt formations but could also be adapted for long-term monitoring and verification within more traditional subsurface carbon storage reservoirs.