Supercritical carbon dioxide
- April 22, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Supercritical carbon dioxide
Subject : Environment
Section: Climate change
Concept :
- A new research by IIT Madras has suggested the use of Supercritical carbon dioxide to flush out oil from depleting oil and gas reservoirs.
About Supercritical carbon dioxide:-
- Supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) is a fluid state of CO2 where it is heated and held at or above its critical temperature(31∘C) and pressure(73 atm).
- In this supercritical phase, CO2 exhibits properties and behaviours between that of a liquid and a gas.
- Supercritical CO2 possesses liquid-like densities with gas-like diffusivity, surface tension and viscosity.
‘Surfactant-Alternating gas (SAG) injection’ approach:
- In this process, carbon dioxide gas is injected into the reservoir, where it becomes supercritical, followed by injection of water or surfactant solution.
Use of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (CO2):-
- It is used in the oil and gas industry for gas injections during enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques.
- When supercritical CO2 reacts with water, carbonic acid (H2CO3) is formed.
- Carbonic acid lowers the pH in the reserve and creates an environment that is corrosive to metal equipment.