# Convective dissolution of carbon dioxide in deep saline aquifers: Insights from engineering a high-pressure porous Hele-Shaw cell

## TL;DR

This study experimentally investigates CO2 dissolution-driven convection in high-pressure porous media using a novel Hele-Shaw cell, revealing dynamic regimes, feedback effects, and scaling relations relevant for geologic carbon storage.

## Contribution

First experimental analysis of high-pressure CO2 convection in porous media with a new Hele-Shaw cell, providing insights into regimes, feedback mechanisms, and scaling laws.

## Key findings

- Dissolution flux decreases continuously in the intermediate regime.
- NaCl+CaCl2 mixtures extend the intermediate period but reduce flux.
- Introduced a new scaling factor for flux and regime transition times.

## Abstract

We present the first experiments of dissolution-driven convection of carbon dioxide (CO$_2$) in a confined brine-saturated porous medium at high pressures. We designed a novel Hele-Shaw cell that allows for both visual and quantitative analyses, and address the effects of free-phase CO$_2$ and brine composition on convective dissolution. The visual examination of the gas volume combined with the measurement of pressure, which both evolve with dissolution, enable us to yield insights into the dynamics of convection in conditions that more closely reflect the geologic conditions. We find and analyze different dissolution events, including diffusive, early and late convection, and shut-down regimes. Our experiments reveal that in intermediate regime, a so-called `quasi-steady' state actually never happens. Dissolution flux continuously decreases in this regime, which is due to a negative feedback loop: the rapid reduction of pressure following convective dissolution, in turn, decreases the solubility of CO$_2$ at the gas-brine interface and thus the instability strength. We introduce a new scaling factor that not only compensates the flux reduction but also the nonlinearities that arise from different salt types. We present robust scaling relations for the compensated flux and for the transition times between consecutive regimes in systems with NaCl (Ra $\sim$ 3271--4841) and NaCl+CaCl$_2$ mixtures (Ra $\sim$ 2919--4283). We also find that NaCl+CaCl$_2$ mixtures enjoy a longer intermediate period before the shut-down of dissolution, but with a lower dissolution flux, as compared to NaCl brines...