wAbstract
@Sandstone dissolution is a common water-rock reaction in the
Earth's crust, but a through understanding of this phenomenon
is constrained by poorly determined kinetic data. To this end,
kinetic data were determined for the dissolution of arkosic sandstone
powders in deionised water (pH was about 7.0-7.3 and electrical
conductivity was between 0.95 and 1.00 ĘS/cm). Release rates of
dissolved elements were determined over the range 50-350 at 20,
15, and 10 MPa using a column flow-through pressure vessel reactor.
The conductivity of the outlet solution, measured at room temperature,
is dependent on the charge of major cations such as Na+,
K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ at these conditions.
The conductivity of the outlet solution was used to determine
the steady state of the dissolution of sandstone powders. The
pH values of the outlet solutions at the steady state, measured
ex situ at room temperature, were about 7.7, 8.3, 8.4, 8.4 and
7.6, at 75, 100, 150, 200 and 250, respectively, at 10 MPa. Silicon,
Na, K, Ca, Al and Mg are the major ions found in the solution
at low temperatures, but Si is the only major ion retained at
higher temperatures (150). Compared with static experiments,
the flowing dissolution experiments occurred at conditions far
from equilibrium. The relationship between temperature and dissolution
rates of arkosic sandstone powders was described as log R = 0.005469
t - 10.50 where R is the dissolution rates of sandstone powders
in kg/(m2d), t is temperature in which ranged from
100 to 350 at 20 and 15 MPa, and the dissolution rates of sandstone
powders were measured only for the major dissolved elements without
oxygen in the outlet solutions.
@The release rates of Si and L increased sharply at temperatures
over the 100-350 range. The release rates of Mn and Ni increased
slowly at low temperatures (200) but increased sharply over
the 200-350 range. The release rates of Na, Ca, Mg and U initially
increased, then decreased. The release rates of Fe varied slightly
from 100 to 250, but increased sharply at 300 and 350. A comparison
of release rates of Si and Ca with temperature showed that the
release rate of Si was lower than that of Ca at temperatures below
150, but clearly higher at temperatures above 150. This phenomenon
can explain previous observations for deep layers of oil field
drill cores that feldspar showed dissolution pits but no clear
dissolution features were found on the surfaces of carbonate minerals.
Apparent activation energies of Si release and K release in these
sandstone powders dissolution experiments were derived to be 33
kJ/mol and 20 kJ/mol, respectively, over 75-350 and 10-20 MPa.
The findings thus provide insights into the dissolution behaviours
of sandstone powders in deionised water at conditions that are
far from equilibrium.x
1. Introduction
2. Materials and methods
@2.1. Materials
@2.2. Experimental procedure
@2.3. Analytical methods
3. Results
@3.1. Sandstone powders
@3.2. Conductivities of outlet solutions
@3.3. Element contents of outlet solutions
4. Discussion
@4.1. Relationship between conductivity and major cation content
@4.2. Relationship between temperature and dissolution rates of
sandstone powders
@4.3. Relationship between temperature and release rates of each
element
@4.4. Activation energy of the dissolution of sandstone powders
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References