Numerical investigation of convective dissolution of fluid CO2 in water during its storage in an underground porous formation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7242/1999-6691/2026.19.2.14Keywords:
water-saturated formation, carbon dioxide geo-storage, dissolution, density-driven convection, numerical simulation, finite difference methodAbstract
The study addresses an important environmental problem related to harmful effects of greenhouse gases on Earth's temperature and climate and the need to reduce anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. One-sided density-driven convection developed inside a porous formation during dissolution of supercritical CO2 fluid in water is investigated in reference to the technologies of carbon dioxide storage in underground water-saturated formations. The hydrodynamic model includes equations of continuity, motion (based on the Darcy's law), convection-diffusion and a non-linear equation of state that relates the density of fluid medium with the concentration of CO2. A fluid is described as a single-phase two-component medium with variable viscosity. Based on the data available in the literature, the physical properties of the CO2 + H2O system were determined in the ranges of temperature T=307.7 - 342.8 К and pressure P=8.07 - 31.42 MPa. Numerical simulation of hydrodynamic processes in this system was carried with the aid of the developed finite-difference numerical code. In particular, the code was employed to study how the characteristics of convective dissolution depend on the temperature and the pressure. It has been found that with increase of these parameters the convective dissolution of CO2 fluid in water is more intensive. For example, the time during which half of CO2 dissolves in water and is transported down by a convective flow is reduced almost twice. Thus, an increase in temperature and pressure ensures more reliable storage of carbon dioxide in underground water-saturated formations.
Downloads
References
Bashir A., Ali M., Patil S., Aljawad M.S., Mahmoud M., Al-Shehri D., Hoteit H., Kamal M.S. Comprehensive review of CO2 geological storage: Exploring principles, mechanisms, and prospects. Earth-Science Reviews. 2024. Vol. 249. 104672. DOI: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104672
Huppert H.E., Neufeld J.A. The Fluid Mechanics of Carbon Dioxide Sequestration. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics. 2014. Vol. 46. P. 255–272. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-fluid-011212-140627
Núñez-López V., Moskal E. Potential of CO2 – EOR for Near-Term Decarbonization. Frontiers in Climate. 2019. Vol. 1. 5. DOI: 10.3389/fclim.2019.00005
Afanasyev A.A., Andreeva A.I., Sypchenko I.M., Chernova A.A. On the influence of the CO2 solubility in water on the performance of enhanced oil recovery. Computational Continuum Mechanics. 2024. Vol. 17, no. 3. P. 320–328. DOI: 10.7242/1999-6691/2024.17.3.27
Goldobin D.S., Baryakh A.A. Underground carbon sequestration as a component of decarbonization in anthropogenic activity. Perm Federal Research Centre Journal. 2023. No. 4. P. 6–13. DOI: 10.7242/2658-705X/2023.4.1
Ndlovu P., Bulannga R., Mguni L.L. Progress in carbon dioxide capture, storage and monitoring in geological landform. Frontiers in Energy Research. 2024. Vol. 12. 1450991. DOI: 10.3389/fenrg.2024.1450991
Ajayi T., Gomes J.S., Bera A. A review of CO2 storage in geological formations emphasizing modeling, monitoring and capacity estimation approaches. Petroleum Science. 2019. Vol. 16. P. 1028–1063. DOI: 10.1007/s12182-019-0340-8
Riaz A., Cinar Y. Carbon dioxide sequestration in saline formations: Part I—Review of the modeling of solubility trapping. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. 2014. Vol. 124. P. 367–380. DOI: 10.1016/j.petrol.2014.07.024
Soboleva E. Instability Problems and Density-Driven Convection in Saturated Porous Media Linking to Hydrogeology: A Review. Fluids. 2023. Vol. 8, no. 2. 36. DOI: 10.3390/fluids8020036
Ennis-King J., Paterson L. Role of Convective Mixing in the Long-Term Storage of Carbon Dioxide in Deep Saline Formations. SPE Journal. 2005. Vol. 10, no. 3. P. 349–356. DOI: 10.2118/84344-PA
Riaz A., Hesse M., Tchelepi H.A., Orr F.M. Onset of convection in a gravitationally unstable diffusive boundary layer in porous media. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 2006. Vol. 548. P. 87–111. DOI: 10.1017/S0022112005007494
Pau G.S.H., Bell J.B., Pruess K., Almgren A.S., Lijewski M.J., Zhang K. High-resolution simulation and characterization of density-driven flow in CO2 storage in saline aquifers. Advances in Water Resources. 2010. Vol. 33. P. 443–455. DOI: 10.1016/j.advwatres.2010.01.009
Soboleva E.B. Density-driven convection in an inhomogeneous geothermal reservoir. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2018. Vol. 127. P. 784–798. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2018.08.019
Neufeld J.A., Hesse M.A., Riaz A., Hallworth M.A., Tchelepi H.A., Huppert H.E. Convective dissolution of carbon dioxide in saline aquifers. Geophysical Research Letters. 2010. Vol. 37. 22404. DOI: 10.1029/2010GL044728
Elenius M.T., Gasda S.E. Convective Mixing Driven by Non-monotonic Density. Transport in Porous Media. 2021. Vol. 138. P. 133–155. DOI: 10.1007/s11242-021-01593-3
Soboleva E.B. Simulation of One-Sided Convection in a Porous Medium Using a Nonlinear Equation of State. Fluid Dynamics. 2025. Vol. 60. 69. DOI: 10.1134/S0015462825600099
Bratsun D.A., Mosheva E.A. Peculiar properties of density wave formation in a two-layer system of reacting miscible liquids. Computational Continuum Mechanics. 2018. Vol. 11, no. 3. P. 302–322. DOI: 10.7242/1999-6691/2018.11.3.23
Bratsun D.A., Mizev A.I., Mosheva E.A. Extended classification of the buoyancy-driven flows induced by a neutralization reaction in miscible fluids. Part 2. Theoretical study. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 2021. Vol. 916. A23. DOI: 10.1017/jfm.2021.202
McBride-Wright M., Maitland G.C., Trusler J.P.M. Viscosity and Density of Aqueous Solutions of Carbon Dioxide at Temperatures from (274 to 449) K and at Pressures up to 100 MPa. Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data. 2015. Vol. 60. P. 171–180. DOI: 10.1021/je5009125
Zubova N.A., Lyubimova T.P. Nonlinear regimes of binary mixture convection in a two-layer porous medium of different configurations. Computational Continuum Mechanics. 2022. Vol. 15, no. 2. P. 145–159. DOI: 10.7242/1999-6691/2022.15.2.11
Chemistry WebBook, SRD 69, National Institute of Standards and Technology. URL: http://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/fluid/
Efika E.C., Hoballah R., Li X., May E.F., Nania M., Sanchez-Vicente Y., Trusler J.P.M. Saturated Phase Densities of (CO2 + H2 O) at Temperatures from (293 to 450) K and Pressures up to 64 MPa. The Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics. 2016. Vol. 93. P. 347–359. DOI: 10.1016/j.jct.2015.06.034
Hemmati-Sarapardeh A., Amar M.N., Soltanian M.R., Dai Z., Zhang X. Modeling CO2 Solubility in Water at High Pressure and Temperature Conditions. Energy & Fuels. 2020. Vol. 34. P. 4761–4776. DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.0c00114
Lu W., Guo H., Chou I.M., Burruss R.C., Li L. Determination of diffusion coefficients of carbon dioxide in water between 268 and 473K in a high-pressure capillary optical cell with in situ Raman spectroscopic measurements. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 2013. Vol. 115. P. 183–204. DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2013.04.010
Leonard B.P. A stable and accurate convective modelling procedure based on quadratic upstream interpolation. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering. 1979. Vol. 19, no. 1. P. 59–98. DOI: 10.1016/0045-7825(79)90034-3
Patankar S. Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow. New York: Hemisphere Pub. Corp., 1980. 197 p.
Soboleva E.B. A Method for Numerical Simulation of Haline Convective Flows in Porous Media as Applied to Geology. Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Physics. 2019. Vol. 59, no. 11. P. 1893–1903. DOI: 10.1134/S0965542519110101
Soboleva E.B. Numerical Simulation of Haline–Convective Flows with Viscosity Contrast in a Porous Medium. Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Physics. 2022. Vol. 62, no. 11. P. 1942–1954. DOI: 10.1134/S0965542522110100
Soboleva E. On the Influence of Weak Heterogeneity of Porous Medium on Rayleigh–Taylor Convection of Miscible Fluids. Transport in Porous Media. 2025. Vol. 152. 50. DOI: 10.1007/s11242-025-02189-x
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Computational Continuum Mechanics
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
