CGSµLab

The main aim of the CGSµLab project is to devise, implement and exploit the most recent scientific advances in supercritical microfluidics to address some of the major issues in the field of the CO2 geological storage (CGS). This project is a pioneering approach in the world, based on several key technological steps in miniaturization of instrumentation under high pressure and high temperature based on the upgraded development of the new concept of geological laboratories on chips (GLoC). The project address fundamental small scale knowledge of the geochemical processes by tuning and simulating on GLoC the experimental behaviors of most of injected real gases in complex lithospheric aqueous fluids, flowing and interacting then with geological minerals at the temperature and pressure conditions of the geological formations. These original and innovative on-chip studies applied to CGS can be then a winning scheme that benefits from the many advantages of the size reduction of the microfluidic systems widely evidenced in a rich literature, to provide larger, faster and cheaper screening of the important key parameters such as permeability, porosity, temperature, pressure, concentrations, flow velocities, dissolved CO2 amount, chemical nature of the injected fluids, formations fluids, formation materials. In addition, there are specially designed in order to implement and develop original instrumentation and in situ microcharacterization technics provided by the partnership, such as micro Raman and RX analyses, microcalorimetry, etc. GLoCs are then adapted to treat the following relevant CGS scientific locks: i) the description of fluids (brines and gases/supercritical fluids) repartition in the porosity of the rock reservoir, including interfacial and capillary phenomena, fluids trapping mechanisms; ii) the description of fluids flows and their evolution during time, hysteretic behaviors, impacts of flow regimes on the transport of CO2, preferential flows; iii) the description of geochemical processes, their location and kinetics in terms of dissolution precipitation reactions but also in terms of differential solubility of gas mixtures, their impacts on the local hydrodynamic properties of the reservoir rock ; iv) the description of biological activity (evolution of the microbial communities and of their metabolisms); v) the progressive integration of GLoC experimental results and relevant parameters in numerical tools for allowing extrapolation to near well bore and reservoir simulation models. The originality, the novelty and the expected scientific and technologic breakthrough of the project are due to the unique character of the participant scientific workforce, resulting from the highly relevance of their complementary skills for advanced instrumental, measurement, modelling and simulation tools, as well as their international high level expertise in solid state chemistry, materials science, geochemistry and geophysics, biology and sub- and super-critical hydrodynamics, and mainly managed with a common focus on CGS field. Indeed, the project gathers one US partner involved in a commercial-scale CGS project in Alabama, French academic and applied research institutions, and one industrial Group, all having focused their respective high-level expertise to interact and cover the issues addressed in the project. The results of applications and extrapolations according to scenarios of exploitation based on the experiences of the pilot and current industrial operations return should allow evaluating and identifying the real progress and developments made by the project with perspectives and recommendations.