Solubility of carbon dioxide in aqueous fluids and mineral suspensions at 294 K and subcritical pressures

Abstract An experimental investigation has been carried on the solubility of CO 2 in water and 1 M NaCl between 0.3 and 4 MPa, in order to test the validity of the results given by various modelling codes. In addition to experiments with pure fluids, the effect of a range of likely reservoir minerals on CO 2 –water interactions, including K-feldspar, kaolinite, calcite, Ca-montmorillonite and Na-montmorillonite were also investigated. In addition to measurements of CO 2 solubility, the pH of the CO 2 -saturated suspensions was also measured directly at pressures of up to 1 MPa. The results demonstrate that predictions of CO 2 solubility made with PHREEQC and Geochemist’s Workbench agree to within 20% with the experimental value, provided corrections are first made off-line for the fugacity coefficient of CO 2 , while predictions from standalone models are slightly more accurate. In the presence of mineral suspensions, PHREEQC and Geochemist’s Workbench give good results for calcite and kaolinite but underestimate the pH of montmorillonite-bearing assemblages while slightly overestimating the pH of K-feldspar suspensions. These results are significant because they indicate that CO 2 -charged fluids reacted with clays may be less acidic than indicated by the models, which will impact predictions of the potential for dissolution of reservoir and cap rock minerals, as well as the potential for leaching of toxic metals.