Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Abstract

GeoPET is the application of positron emission tomography (PET) for direct, non-destructive, quantitative spatiotemporal measurement and visualization of fluid transport in natural geological media on drill-core scale [1-5]. Here, we present new results that focus on reactive transport simulations on a drill core sample in 4D (3D+t) by using velocity fields (vx, vy, vz) obtained from GeoPET measurements of a fractured rock sample.
A mechanically induced fracture was obtained during a geomechanical shear test in a calciferous sandstone drill core sampled from the Permian Kupferschiefer ore formation (Rudna mine, Poland). Column leaching experiments using the core sample (D = 6 cm, L = 10 cm) were carried out in a plexiglas reaction cell in the laboratory at atmospheric pressure. The leaching solutions were injected with constant flow rate of 1 mL/h in three stages: First, a moderately hard synthetic fresh water (pH = 8.5) was used as inflow solution for 22 days in order to remove the salts minerals. Second, an acidic solution with pH of 1.5 (H2SO4) was injected to reduce the carbonat content within another 23 days. In stage three, 0.17 mol/L concentrated ferric iron was added to the acidic inflow solution (pH 1.5, H2SO4) for 20 days in order to dissolve mainly the Cu-sulfid minerals and increase the copper recovery from sample. The tracer transport in the sample was monitored by PET technique and the velocity fields derived by using an image analysing algorithm. The velocity fields then imported in the COMSOL Multyphisics to simulate and calibrate the fluidflow. Three dimensional modeling by means of iCP 1.3[6] (an interface coupling of the finite element based code COMSOL Multiphysics® with the geochemical code PhreeqC[7]) was performed to predict the leaching process and solute transport through the core sample by using kinetic mineral dissolution and precipitation data (BRGM database). The reactive transport model results are compared and refined by using the laboratory column leaching experiments.