DLVO-based estimates of adsorbed water film thicknesses in geologic CO2 reservoirs

When supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO(2)) is injected into deep subsurface reservoirs, much of the affected volume consists of pores containing both water and scCO(2), with water films remaining as the mineral-wetting phase. Although water films can affect multiphase flow and mediate reactions at mineral surfaces, little is known about how film thicknesses depend on system properties. Here, the thicknesses of water films were estimated on the basis of considerations of capillary pressure needed for the entry of CO(2) and disjoining pressures in films resulting from van der Waals and electric double-layer interactions. Depth-dependent CO(2) and water properties were used to estimate Hamaker constants for water films on silica and smectite surfaces under CO(2) confinement. Dispersion interactions were combined with approximate solutions to the electric double layer film thickness-pressure relationship in a Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) analysis, with CO(2) as the confining fluid. Under conditions of elevated pressure, temperature, and salinity commonly associated with CO(2) sequestration, adsorbed water films in reservoir rock surfaces are typically predicted to be less than 10 nm in thickness. Decreased surface charge of silica under the acidic pH of CO(2)-equilibrated water and elevated salinity is predicted to compress the electric double layer substantially, such that the dispersion contribution to the film thickness is dominant. Relative to silica, smectite surfaces are predicted to support thicker water films under CO(2) confinement because of greater electrostatic and dispersion stabilization.