Mechanism of accelerated dissolution of mineral crystals by cavitation erosion

Cavitation,a phenomenon produced by a moving fluid,is ubiquitous in the water environment of the Earth's surface and its related mechanical action in the process of cavitation leads to the widespread erosion of rock in nature.Although the mechanical action of flowing water body that accelerates the rock mass loss and fragmentation of rock(abrasion,erosion,and etching)and other phenomena have been much studied,its acceleration of mineral crystal dissolution is rarely reported.The physical mechanism of effect is not yet clear.The cavitation bubble produced in the cavitation process is at the micron level,and its related mechanical action leading to the accumulation of rock mineral dissolution is manifested in time and space in the process of the chemical element's migration between water and rock minerals.Cavitation erosion may be one of the important driving forces for the migration of geochemical elements within the lithosphere and hydrosphere.In this paper,based on the crystal dissolution stepwave dynamic theory and the theoretical derivation and calculation of Gibbs free energy change of the mineral crystals plastic deformation which caused by the mechanical action of cavitation erosion,we give the possible mechanism of accelerating the transient dissolution of mineral crystals by cavitation erosion—the cavitation bubbles on the surface of the near crystal release the high speed micro-jet and shock wave perpendicular to the surface during the collapsing,in which the water hammer pressure produced by micro-jet at the solid–liquid interface causes instantaneous plastic deformation on the crystal surface under the condition that it is larger than the yield stress of the crystal.Under the influence of the thermal effect of the plastic deformation process and the change of Gibbs free energy(the dislocation elastic strain energy of plastic deformation on the crystal surface may be included),the local instantaneous dissolution rate of the mineral surface is accelerated.The continuous cavitation erosion eventually causes fracture and breaking of the mineral crystal,meanwhile,the Gibbs–Thomson effect may enhance the dissolution of mineral crystals more prominently.At the same time,the correctness of the mechanism is verified qualitatively by the acoustic cavitation experiment with the same erosion mechanism.

Effect of reactive surface area of minerals on mineralization trapping of CO_2 in saline aquifers

The reactive surface area, an important parameter controlling mineral reactions, affects the amount of mineralization trapping of CO2 which affects the long-term CO2 storage. The effect of the reactive surface area on the mineralization trapping of CO2 was numerically simulated for CO2 storage in saline aquifers. Three kinds of minerals, including anorthite, calcite and kaolinite, are involved in the mineral reactions. This paper models the relationship between the specific surface area and the grain diameter of anorthite based on experimental data from literature （Brantley and Mellott, 2000）. When the reactive surface areas of anorthite and calcite decrease from 838 to 83.8 m^2/m^3, the percentage of mineralization trapping of CO： after 500 years decreases from 11.8% to 0.65%. The amount of dissolved anorthite and the amounts of precipitated kaolinite and calcite decrease significantly when the reactive surface areas ofanorthite and calcite decrease from 838 to 83.8 m2/m3. Calcite is initially dissolved in the brine and then precipitates during the geochemical reactions between CO2-H20 and the minerals. Different reactive surface areas of anorthite and calcite lead to different times from dissolution to precipitation. The pH of the brine decreases with decreasing reactive surface areas of anorthite and calcite which influences the acidity of the saline aquifer. The gas saturation between the upper and lower parts of the saline aquifer increases with decreasing reactive surface areas of anorthite and calcite. The mass density distribution of brine solution shows that the CO2^＋brine solution region increases with decreasing reactive surface areas ofanorthite and calcite.

Assessing roles of geochemical reactions on CO_(2)plume,injectivity and residual trapping

With increasing CO_(2)concentration in the atmosphere,CO_(2)geo-aequestration has become a popular technique to counter the dangers of global warming resulting from high levels of CO_(2)in the atmosphere.This paper examins sequestration parameters such as CO_(2)plume behaviour,residual gas trapping and injectivity as a means of achieving safe and successful CO_(2)storage in saline aquifers.Mineral precipitation/dissolution rates are used to establish a relationship between these parameters and geochemical reactions in saline aquifers.To achieve this,mechanistic models(6 models with different inputs,created using CMG e GEM,2016 and WINPROP,2016)are simulated using input data from literature and studying changes in fluids and formation properties as well as mineral precipitation/dissolution rates in aquifers when subjected to different conditions in the different models.The results from the models show that high CO_(2)dissolution,which creates large CO_(2)plume,leads to high mineral dissolution/precipitation as results of increased fluid-rock interactions(geochemical reactions);whereas injectivity,although enhanced by CO_(2)-water cyclic injection,does not show much increase in bottom hole pressure when mineral trapping(thus geochemical reactions)is introduced into the model.Sensitivity study on residual gas trapping shows that high residual gas saturation leads to reduced mineral precipitation/dissolution due to the reduced amount of dissolved CO_(2)in brine.Also,rapid changes in the bottom hole pressure at high residual gas saturation means that a formation that fosters high residual gas trapping,rather than CO_(2)dissolution in brine,is more likely to experience injectivity issues during the sequestration process.