Experimental investigations of the impact of H2, He, CH4, and CO2 exposure on kerogen adsorption, wettability, and geomechanical characteristics at geostorage conditions
Author Identifier
Tawanda Matamba: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8703-2755
Maxim Lebedev: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1369-5844
Alireza Keshavarz: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8091-961X
Stefan Iglauer: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8080-1590
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
SPE Journal
Volume
30
Issue
6
First Page
3829
Last Page
3838
Publisher
Society of Petroleum Engineers
School
Centre for Sustainable Energy and Resources
Funders
Natural Science Foundation of China (52304019) / CNPC Innovation Found (2023DQ02-0505) / Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (ZR2024ZD17) / Qingdao Natural Science Foundation (23-2-1-230-zyyd-jch) / Australian Research Council
Grant Number
ARC Number : DP220102907
Abstract
Kerogen is the most abundant form of organic matter in the subsurface and its properties of adsorption, wettability, and geomechanics affect gas (H2, He, CH4, and CO2) geo-storage (GGS) capacity and leakage risk. However, the impact of H2, He, CH4 and CO2 exposure on kerogen adsorption, wettability and geomechanical characteristics at in-situ GGS conditions is still unclear, and thus large uncertainties exist in evaluating on GGS integrity. Therefore herein, kerogen properties were investigated experimentally at GGS conditions, based on isothermal adsorption, contact angle, and nanoindentation measurements. It is demonstrated that (1) the maximum adsorption capacity for H2, CH4, and CO2 is 0.3789, 3.5360, and 5.2625 mol/kg, respectively (occurring at various thermophysical conditions), thus following the order H2 < CH4 < CO2; (2) kerogen wettability ranges from weakly water-wet to gas-wet with its affinity to gases following the order He < CO2 < H2 < CH4; and (3) after exposure to H2, He, CH4, and H2 O for 3 minutes and to liquid CO2 for 5 minutes, the Young’s modulus of kerogen decreases by 45, 32, 1, 50, and 70% respectively, while the kerogen pellet disintegrates after exposure to supercritical CO2 for 3 minutes. This study provides key data for evaluating GGS, an important pathway for accelerating the energy transition, promoting advanced technology development, balancing the energy supply and demand, and mitigating carbon emissions.
DOI
10.2118/225446-PA
Access Rights
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Comments
Pan, B., Matamba, T., Yin, X., Zhang, M., Yang, Y., Yang, Y., Song, X., Clarkson, C. R., Lebedev, M., Edlmann, K., Keshavarz, A., & Iglauer, S. (2025). Experimental investigations of the impact of H2, HE, CH4, and CO2 exposure on kerogen adsorption, wettability, and geomechanical characteristics at Geo-Storage conditions. SPE Journal, 30(6), 3829-3838. https://doi.org/10.2118/225446-PA