CO2 Sequestration and Geologic Interactions

Geological carbon storage involves injecting captured CO2 deep underground into porous rock formations—most often saline aquifers—where it can be trapped for thousands of years, preventing its release into the atmosphere. Understanding how injected CO2 behaves once underground requires tracking a cascade of geochemical reactions: the gas dissolves into brine, reacts with surrounding minerals, and may gradually become locked in solid carbonate phases through a process called mineral carbonation. Researchers rely heavily on reactive transport modeling to simulate these processes across the timescales and pressures relevant to real storage sites, while also scrutinizing the integrity of caprocks—the impermeable layers that must hold CO2 in place. Active questions center on how reliably caprock seals hold under long-term chemical and mechanical stress, and on scaling up mineral carbonation rates enough to make permanent, solid-phase storage a predictable engineering outcome rather than a fortunate side effect.

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Keywords

CO2 SequestrationGeological StorageCarbon CaptureMineral CarbonationGeochemical ModelingSaline Aquifers