Two types of laboratory experiments were conducted. These experiments are shown below:
(1) Conventional batch-reaction experiments of cement cores in the system of CO2 and simulated formation water as 0.5 M NaCl, at 50 and 70 C, 5, 8, 18 MPa for 100-1600hr. In this experiment, individual cement cores are allowed to react with wet CO2 and NaCl solution charged in titanium reaction vessels with PTFE separators.
(2) CO2-injection reaction involving casing (API Grade J-55)-cement (API class A) and cement (API class A)-shale composites which were saturated with 0.5 M NaCl solution.
As a counter experiment for batch experiments, zero CO2 runs for these cements were additionally carried out at 50 and 70 C at 5 MPa for 100 and 400 hr. The CO2-injection runs were carried out at 50 C and 8.5 MPa with a constant differential pressure of 5 kPa. The resultant products were used to analyze alteration depth via micro-focused X-ray computed tomography (-XCT) and electron probe micro analyzer (EPMA). For observation and determination of alteration phases, field mission scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (FESEM-EDS) and micro X-ray diffractometry (-XRD) were also performed.
The alteration zones identified in the both cement cores of A and G in wet CO2 showed spatial developments of zones appearing in -XCT images as a function of square root of time (t1/2), which can be interpreted as a diffusion-limited reaction. However, in the NaCl solution, these cement cores developed little alteration zones and poorly displayed time-dependency after 100 h.