• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.1-16
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• 2018

Recent development of lithium ion batteries for vehicles industries have led to a boom in lithium exploration and development for the new generation of batteries. One of the cheapest sources of lithium is the brines hosted in the aquifers of the arid intermontane-closed salar basins. Because the resource is a fluid, with the attendant problems of in-aquifer mixing, reorganization, and lower recovery factors compared with most metalliferous and industrial mineral deposits due to reliance on pumping of the brine from wells for extraction, existing codes for filing resource and reserve estimates require new approach for these prospects. Evaluation of brine resources is complex and requires participation of a variety of qualified experts such as hydrogeologists, geologists, geochemists and chemical engineers. The technical reports disclosing the results of these estimates should reflect the inputs of multi-disciplinary approaches. The requirements for brine resource and reserve evaluation, drawing on several examples from the experiences in the Central Andes are reviewed in this paper.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.1-14
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• 2018

The recent increase in demand for lithium has led to the development of new brine prospects, The brines are hosted in closed salar basin aquifers of two types that are mature halite salars and immature clastic salars. Salar brines also contain other elements of commercial interest, most notably potassium and boron. As a result, there has been a plethora of new exploration projects focused on the brines hosted in the aquifers of the intermontane-closed basins. The estimate of lithium resources and reserves in these salars depends on a detailed knowledge of aquifer geometry, porosity, and brine grade. Because the resource is in a fluid state, it has the propensity to move, mix, rearrange itself relatively rapidly during the course of a project lifetime, and lower recovery factors compared with most metalliferous and industrial mineral deposits due to reliance on pumping of the brine from wells for extraction. This is unlike any other type of metallic mineral resource and hence a different approach specially focusing on hydrogeology and brine hydrology is required for these prospects.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.333-335
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• 2003

Deep Ocean Water is formed within restricted area including polar sea (high latitude) by cooling of surface seawater and globally circulated in the state of insolation with surface seawater. Although not as obvious as estuaries mixing, Brine groundwater is mixture of recirculated seawater and groundwater. Seawater having high osmotic pressure infiltrate into unconfined aquifer where is connected to the sea. The ions dissolved in seawater are present in constant proportions to each other and to the total salt content of seawater. However deviation in ion proportions have been observed in some brine groundwater. Some causes of these exception to the Rule of constant proportions are due to many chemical reactions between periphery soil and groundwater. While Deep Ocean Water (DOW) have a large quantity of functional trace metals and biological affinity relative to brine groundwater, DOW have relatively small amount of harmful bacteria and artificial pollutants.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.1-23
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• 2022

For its essential importance as a resource, sustainable development of groundwater has been major research interests for many decades. Conventional characterization of aquifer and groundwater has relied on borehole data from observation well. Although borehole data provide useful information on yield and flow of groundwater, it is often difficult and sometimes costly to estimate the spatial distribution of groundwater in entire aquifer. Geophysical probing is an alternative techique that provides such information due to its capability to image subsurface structures as well as to delineate spatial distribution of hydraulic parameters. This study presents various technical information about geophysical probing to estimate main characteristics of aquifer for groundwater exploitation. Subsequently, we analyzed representative cases, in which geophysical methods were applied to identify the location of the groundwater, classify freshwater and brine, derive hydraulic constants, and monitor groundwater.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.42-46
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• 2004

Deep Ocean Water (DOW) is formed within restricted area including polar sea (high latitude) by cooling of surface seawater and globally circulating in the state of isolation from surface seawater. Although it is not as obvious as estuaries mixing, brine ground water is mixture of recirculated seawater and ground water. Seawater having high osmotic pressure infiltrates into an aquifer which is connected to the sea. In order to clarify the characteristics of deep ocean water and brine ground water, we investigated their origins, chemical compositions, water qualities and resources stabilities. While concentrations of stable isotopes (/sup 18/O and ²H) in seawater is 0‰, those in brine ground water is on meteoric water line or shifted toward oxygen line. It means that origin of brine ground water is different than that of deep ocean water. The ions dissolved in seawater (Na, Ca, Mg, K) are present in constant proportions to each other and to the total salt content of seawater. However deviations in ion proportions have been observed in some brine ground water. Some causes of these exception to the rule of constant proportions are due to many chemical reactions between periphery soil and ground water. While DOW has a large quantity of functional trace metals and biological affinity relative to brine ground water, DOW has relatively small amount of harmful bacteria and artificial pollutants.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2023

In this study, the Al₂O₃ nanofluid was synthesized as an additive for improving the injection efficiency and storage capacity of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in a depleted sandstone reservoir or deep saline aquifer. As the base fluid, deionized water (DIW) and saline prepared by referring to the composition of API Brine were used, and the fluid was synthesized by using Al₂O₃ nanofluid with CTAB (cetyltrimethyl-ammonium bromide), a cationic surfactant. After that, the dispersion stability was evaluated by using visual observation, dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and miscibility test. As a result, it was presented that stable nanofluid without agglomeration and precipitation after reaction with 70,000 ppm of brine could be synthesized when the nanoparticle concentration was 0.05 wt% or less.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.403-412
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• 2009

The objective of this study is to investigate the geochemical change of feldspar minerals by supercritical $CO_2$, which exists at $CO_2$ sequestration sites. High pressurized cell system (100 bar and $50^{\circ}C$) was designed to create supercritical $CO_2$ in the cell and the surface change and the dissolution of plagioclase and orthoclase were observed when the mineral surface reacted with supercritical $CO_2$ and water (or without water) for 30 days. The polished slab surface of feldspar was contacted with supercritical $CO_2$ and an artificial brine water (pH 8) in the experiments. The experiments for the reaction of feldspar with only supercritical $CO_2$ (without brine water) were also conducted. Results from the first experiment showed that the average roughness value of the plagioclase surface was 0.118 nm before the reaction, but it considerably increased to 2.493 nm after 30 days. For the orthoclase, the average roughness increased from 0.246 nm to 1.916 nm, suggesting that the dissolution of feldspar occurs in active when the feldspars contact with supercritical $CO_2$ and brine water at $CO_2$ sequestration site. The dissolution of $Ca^{2+}$ and $Na^+$ from the plagioclase occurred and a certain part of them precipitated inside of the high pressurized cell as the form of amorphous silicate mineral. For the orthoclase, $Al^{3+}$, $K^+$, and $Si^{+4}$ were dissolved in order and the kaolinite was precipitated. In the experiments without water, the change of the average roughness value and the dissolution of feldspar scarcely occurred, suggesting that the geochemical reaction of feldspars contacted with supercritical $CO_2$ at the environment without the brine water is not active.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.73-82
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• 2015

Despite significant effects on macroscopic migration and distribution of CO₂ injected during geological sequestration, only limited information is available on wettability in microscopic scCO₂-brine-mineral systems due to difficulties in pore-scale observation. In this study, a micromodel had been developed to improve our understanding of how scCO₂ flooding and residual characteristics of porewater are affected by the wettability in scCO₂-water-glass bead systems. The micromodel (a transparent pore structure made of glass beads and glass plates) in a pressurized chamber provided the opportunity to visualize scCO₂ spreading and porewater displacement. CO₂ flooding followed by fingering migration and dewatering followed by formation of residual water were observed through an imaging system. Measurement of contact angles of residual porewater in micromodels were conducted to estimate wettability in a scCO₂-water-glass bead system. The measurement revealed that the brine-3M NaCl solution-is a wetting fluid and the surface of glass beads is water-wet. It is also found that the contact angle at equilibrium decreases as the pressure decreases, whereas it increases as the salinity increases. Such changes in wettability may significantly affect the patterns of scCO₂ migration and porewater residence during the process of CO₂ injection into a saline aquifer at high pressures.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.280-286
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• 2005

Geological sequestration of carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) is one of the most effective strategies far long-term removal of greenhouse gas from atmosphere. This paper reviews three projects for the $CO_2$ sequestration in geological formation. A unique $CO_2$ injection into a marine aquifer has been successfully monitored with repeated surface seismic measurements in the North Sea Sleipner West field. The seismic images reveal the extent and internal shape of the $CO_2$ bubble. Massive miscible $CO_2$ has been injected into a complex fractured carbonate reservoir at the Weyburn oil filed. High-resolution time-lapse P-wave data were successfully obtained to map the features of $CO_2$ movements within the two thin zones of different lithology. From the time-lapse crosswell EM imaging at the Lost Hills oil field in central California, U.S.A., the replacement of brine with $CO_2$ has been confirmed through a decrease of conductivity. The conductivity image was successfully compared with induction logs observed in the two wells.