Dissolution trapping - Convection enhancement limited by geology

The security of storage of CO₂ by injection as dense-phase gas in geological formations, includes evaluating the efficiency of the different long-term trapping mechanisms. As part of this, it is often suggested that the amount of dissolved CO₂ over long time perspective can be enhanced significantly by the added effect on effective dissolution rate by the brine convection mechanism. The work presented here suggests this effect to be minimal in realistic reservoir geometries including intraformational sealing shale layers of some lateral continuity. The results from a simulation study indicate that in reservoir architectures with this layered geometry, the development of the convection as an enhanced trapping mechanism will be limited.