A hyperbaric AFM for imaging mineral surfaces in supercritical CO2 - year 2
EMSL Project ID
40896
Abstract
Storage of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) in deep underground saline aquifers has been proposed as a viable method of slowing the increase of CO2 in the earth's atmosphere while continuing to allow the use of fossil-C based fuels for energy. In these aquifers, the CO2 will exist in the supercritical state. Consequently, numerous bulk laboratory studies are underway to measure the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of the reactions that would occur for various mineral systems in the presence of hydrous, supercritical CO2. Yet, the molecular-scale, site-specific reactions that take place at these mineral-fluid interfaces are poorly understood. These fundamental reactions ultimately sum to produce the interfacial phenomena that are observed in bulk studies and described macroscopically by equilibrium thermodynamics or kinetic rate laws. Attempts to understand and control the chemistry at these interfaces, which is necessary to assess the practicality of subsurface carbon sequestration, should be based on explicit and quantitative understanding of these fundamental interactions. To address this, we propose to optimize and test a hyperbaric atomic force microscope that is capable of imaging mineral-H2O-supercritical CO2 systems in situ and in real-time on a molecular-scale that is currently under development as part of the Carbon Sequestration Initiative's Instrumentation Suite. This instrument will be based on the hyperbaric, hyperthermal AFM that has been developed in recent years, but will be able to handle the pressures necessary to operate with supercritical CO2. Calcite will be utilized as a test specimen to facilitate the development of the system, however, environmnetally relevant samples, such as forsterite will be analyzed once operational. To be fully operational, this instrumentation will need to be interfaced with the DI Nanoscope IIIa scanning probe in the Microscopy Capability.
Project Details
Start Date
2010-06-14
End Date
2011-06-19
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Related Publications
Lea AS, SR Higgins, KG Knauss, and KM Rosso. 2011. "A high-pressure atomic force microscope for imaging in supercritical carbon dioxide." Review of Scientific Instruments 82(4):Article No.: 043709.