One component of the program to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere is to inject it into deep aquifers where it will remain for centuries or longer. The Carbon Mitigation Initiative at Princeton University addresses many aspects of the greenhouse gas problem, ranging from climate modeling, to the economics and technology for carbon capture, to injection and storage. Our piece of the problem is to study the mechanisms by which CO2 could escape through abandoned oil wells that penetrate the zone in which the gas is stored. We have studied the rate of corrosion of cement by carbonated brine, in work initiated by Andrew Duguid (now working for Schlumberger) and extended by Ed Matteo. A model for the reactive transport process has been developed (primarily by Bruno Huet (now working for Schlumberger) and Prof. Jean Prévost) that provides accurate predictions of the rate of attack.
Relevant papers:
“Leakage of CO2 Through Abandoned Wells: Role of Corrosion of Cement “, G.W. Scherer, M. A. Celia, J.-H. Prévost, S. Bachu, R. Bruant, A. Duguid, R. Fuller, S. E. Gasda, M. Radonjic, W. Vichit-Vadakan, in Carbon Dioxide Capture for Storage in Deep Geologic Formations - Results from the CO2 Capture Project, Vol 2 - Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide with Monitoring and Verification (Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, 2005)
“The Effect of Carbonated Brine on Well Cement Used in Geologic Formations.”, A. Duguid, M. Radonjic, and G. W. Scherer, paper TH4-10.2 in Proc. 12th ICCC, eds. J.J. Beaudoin, J.M. Makar, L. Raki (National Research Council of Canada, Montreal, Canada, 2007) ISBN 978-0-660-19695-4
“Degradation of Oilwell Cement Due to Exposure to Carbonated Brine”, Andrew Duguid, George W. Scherer, Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control, 4 (2010) 546–560
“Carbonation of Wellbore Cement by CO2 Diffusion from Caprock”, G.W. Scherer and B. Huet, Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control, 3 (2009) 731–735
“Quantitative reactive transport modeling of portland cement in CO2 saturated water”, Bruno M. Huet; Jean-Hervé Prévost; George Scherer, Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control, 4 (2010) 561–574
“Characterization of Cement from a Well at Teapot Dome Oil Field: Implications for Geologic Sequestration”, G.W. Scherer, B. Kutchko, N. Thaulow, A. Duguid, B. Mook, Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control, 5 (2011) 115–1240
“LUCI: A facility at DUSEL for large-scale experimental study of geologic carbon sequestration”, C.A. Peters, P.F. Dobson, C.M. Oldenburg, J.S.Y. Wang, T.C. Onstott, G.W. Scherer, B.M. Freifeld, T.S. Ramakrishnan, E.L. Stabinski, K. Liang, S. Verma, Energy Procedia 4 (2011) 5050–5057
“Experimental Study of the Diffusion-Controlled Acid Degradation of Class H Portland Cement”, E.N. Matteo and G.W. Scherer, Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control 7 (2012) 181–191
“Understanding Boundary Condition Effects on the Corrosion Kinetics of Class H Well Cement”, E.N. Matteo, G.W. Scherer, B. Huet, and L. Pel, Energy Procedia 4 (2011) 5370–5376
“Degradation of cement at the reservoir/cement interface from exposure to carbonated brine”, A. Duguid, M. Radonjic, and G.W. Scherer, Int. J. Greenhouse Gas 5 (2011) 1413–1428