Interfacial Tension and Contact Angle Data Relevant to Carbon Sequestration

Interfacial tension (IFT) between “native reservoir fluid” and “injected CO2” and the contact angle (CA) among the reservoir rock, native reservoir fluid, and injected CO2 are major factors that dictate the relative permeability and capillary pressure characteristics which in turn control the fluid flow and distribution characteristics in the reservoir and cap rocks. This chapter is a comprehensive review on the state-of-the-art of the experimentally measured and theoretically predicted IFT and CA data of water/brine-CO2-quartz/calcite/mica systems that are relevant to CO2 sequestration. Experimental techniques used to generate the IFT and CA data and details of molecular simulations used to predict the data are discussed. Respective comparisons of the IFT and CA data reported by various research groups are also made. Possible reasons for disagreements in the published literature are discussed, and suggestions are made for future research in this area to address the potential technical issues in order to obtain reproducible data.