WETTABILITY ALTERATION BY SUPERCRITICAL CO2-ENRICHED WATER AND ITS IMPACT ON MULTIPHASE FLOW RELATED TO CO2 SEQUESTRATION

Changes in pore networks i.e. pore (throat) size, pore surface roughness and mineralogy induced by supercritical-CO₂-water-rock reactions impact petrophysical properties such as porosity, permeability, especially wettability. However, the effect of these changes on relative permeability and capillary pressure curves that would affect multi-phase flow through porous rocks is rarely studied. In this work, contact angle altered as Madison Limestone samples were soaked for 400 hours in CO₂-enriched water. Moreover, CO₂ flooding results before and after soaking show that water production rate and total water production increased as well. This wettability alteration and pore network change will directly affect CO₂ injectivity, migration and storage capacity, thus significantly improving the fundamental understanding of CO₂ geological storage processes and reducing the uncertainties for CO₂ injection simulation.