Executive Summary : | Reservoir rock, composed of minerals, crystals, cement, grains, and fractures, significantly affects the permeability and integrity of reservoirs, determining their storage potential. Understanding the interaction between the matrix and fracture properties is crucial for predicting fluid flow in geological reservoirs. Despite significant progress in fluid flow understanding, the effect of fracture aperture on solute distribution and potential alteration of fracture permeability due to carbonate mineral-brine, CO2-brine, and its effect on solute distribution remains unexplored. This study aims to conduct controlled experiments and detailed reactive transport simulations on heterogenous fractured porous media under reactive conditions. Two reservoir rocks and a synthetic heterogeneous porous media will be used, and the solute transport mechanism will be visualized and predicted using reactive transport modelling. Petrophysics analysis will be conducted on the two-reservoir rocks to determine the porous structure, mineral composition, and capillary pressure. Core-flooding experiments will be conducted to study the geochemical reaction between the mineral in the reservoir rock and saturated water. The residence time distribution, permeability, and permeability alteration due to mineral dissolution and precipitation will be monitored. Comprehensive reactive transport modelling will be performed using COMSOL and PheerqC to capture fluid distribution in fractured porous media and geochemical reactions. The information gained from these experiments and simulations can be used to develop a generic and transferable reactive transport model for real systems, enabling better design and troubleshooting of field subsurface activities to avoid fracture failure or leakage of CO2 and energy vectors from storage reservoirs. |