Numerical simulation on solubility of CO₂ in aquifer

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology has been considered as an important method for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions and for mitigating global climate change (IPCC, 2005). The solubility data are important for many processes in CCS project, especially in CO₂ geological storage. The solubility of gas in liquid is generally known as the solute properties dissolve in the solvent. The mole fraction of gas dissolved in liquid is various; it depends on properties of either gas or liquid. In this study, the STARS was used for numerical simulations on effects of gas solubility in geological CO₂ storage. In this study, a typical model was assumed as that CO₂ gas is injected into an aquifer in 1001 m depth and gas solubility in water can be defined by K-values. The sensitivity study on effects of applying gas solubility was investigated by changing injection pressure and initial reservoir temperature. The result shows that the pressure and temperature have significant effect on CO₂ gas solubility in the aquifer.