Capillarity and wetting of carbon dioxide and brine during drainage in Berea sandstone at reservoir conditions

Abstract

The wettability of CO2-brine-rock systems will have a major impact on the management of carbon sequestration in subsurface geological formations. Recent contact angle measurement studies have reported sensitivity in wetting behavior of this system to pressure, temperature, and brine salinity. We report observations of the impact of reservoir conditions on the capillary pressure characteristic curve and relative permeability of a single Berea sandstone during drainage - CO2 displacing brine - through effects on the wetting state. Eight reservoir condition drainage capillary pressure characteristic curves were measured using CO2 and brine in a single fired Berea sandstone at pressures (5-20 MPa), temperatures (25-50°C), and ionic strengths (0-5 mol kg-1 NaCl). A ninth measurement using a N2-water system provided a benchmark for capillarity with a strongly water wet system. The capillary pressure curves from each of the tests were found to be similar to the N2-water curve when scaled by the interfacial tension. Reservoir conditions were not found to have a significant impact on the capillary strength of the CO2-brine system during drainage through a variation in the wetting state. Two steady-state relative permeability measurements with CO2 and brine and one with N2 and brine similarly show little variation between conditions, consistent with the observation that the CO2-brine-sandstone system is water wetting and multiphase flow properties invariant across a wide range of reservoir conditions.