Speaker
Description
Keywords: MICP – Material interface – Permeability reduction
Abstract
Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) is a promising eco-friendly technology for enhancing mechanical properties and durability of subsurface formations. This biogeochemical process, driven by metabolic activities, such as ureolysis or ammonification [1] of specific microorganisms, results in the precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) which binds soil particles and clogs cracks in rock materials.
The application of MICP has been extensively studied in several contexts, but its interaction at material interfaces in heterogeneous porous media remains under-explored because of the high complexity of the involved processes and the spatial variability of material properties.
In this work, the most relevant biochemical and mechanical aspects of MICP at a sandstone-cement interface are analyzed. This aims to investigate whether MICP could be useful for the remediation of used oil and gas wells so that they can be reused for CCS or hydrogen storage.
By combining laboratory sandstone-cement precipitation flow experiment, carried out at the British Geological Survey [2], with numerical simulations by means of a two-phase multicomponent reactive transport model based on Hommel et al. (2015) [3], this study helps elucidate MICP-related mechanisms at heterogeneous interfaces providing a better understanding of the key factors controlling the flow patterns as well as biofilm growth and calcium carbonate precipitation dynamics.
The results reveal that MICP can effectively reduce the permeability of old wells by precipitating calcium carbonate at the sandstone-cement interface under controlled conditions related to the hydraulic properties of the treated medium as well as the characteristics of the treatment bacterial solution. This helps elucidate MICP-related mechanisms at heterogeneous interfaces, shedding new light on field-scale challenges and helping optimize MICP implementation strategies.
References
[1] Zhu, T. and Dittrich, M.: Carbonate precipitation through microbial activities in natural environment and their potential in biotechnology: A Review. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 4:4. (2016) doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2016.00004.
[2] https://rex-co2.eu/
[3] Hommel, J., Lauchnor, E., Phillips, A. J., Gerlach, R., Cunningham, A. B., Helmig, R., Ebigbo, A., Class, H.: A revised model for microbially induced calcite precipitation: Improvements and new insights based on recent experiments. In: Water Resources Research 51.5 (2015), pp. 3695–3715. doi: 10.1002/2014WR016503.
| Country | Germany |
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