scholarly journals Pore Structure Characteristics and Gas Storage Potential of the Cretaceous La Luna Formation, Middle Magdalena Valley Basin, Colombia

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (31) ◽  
pp. 169-205
Author(s):  
Efraín Casadiego-Quintero ◽  
Carlos Alberto Rios-Reyes

The rocks of interest in the present study (mudstones) show inherently a heterogeneous pore-size distribution in the matrix. They can present organic and inorganic pores and the transport mechanism through pores is different, and, therefore, it is necessary to describe their organic and inorganic porosity. This work uses different microscopy techniques to characterize mudstones from the Galembo Member of the Cretaceous La Luna Formation, Middle Magdalena Valley Basin, Colombia. These rocks present several pore types, including interparticle pores due to flocculation of clay minerals, organoporosity due to burial and thermal maturity, intraparticle pores from organisms, intraparticle pores within mineral grains, and microchannels and microfractures. The existence of interconnected pores in such complex fracture-pore system provides effective pathways for primary gas migration and it also provides a storage space for the residual hydrocarbon in mudstones, which is important for the primary migration and storage in gas reservoir rocks. The pore connectivity is high and increases towards the top of the sedimentary sequence.

2015 ◽  
pp. 45-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Andrea Pacheco Sintura ◽  
Agustín Cardona Molina ◽  
Farid B. Cortés

Shale gas has become a major non-conventional energetical resource. La Luna Formation which is commonly considered as the main petroleum source rock, have also shown to be a major reservoir for shale gas resources. In order to understand the "real" potential of this unit and define exploration strategies, the correlation between compositional and petrophysical patterns. We have analyzed 11 shale samples from La Luna and Conejo Formation in the Middle Magdalena basin and the Eastern Cordillera in order to established its composition, total organic contents, thermal maturity, as well as its total porosity and adsorption capacity. Obtained results suggest that due to its organic content, the presence of quartz and carbonate that these shales have a good quality as a gas reservoir and may have also a moderately good behavior during fracturing.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingjie Yu ◽  
Keyu Liu ◽  
Ming Fan ◽  
Zhejun Pan

Pore connectivity is crucial for shale gas production. However, the three-dimensional (3D) characteristics and distribution of pore networks and, more fundamentally, the underlying role of different pore types on pore connectivity in shales are inadequately understood. By comparing the 3D pore connectivity derived from direct microstructural imaging of pores filled with Wood’s metal at a pressure corresponding to the finest accessible pore throat in the resolution ranges that may be achieved by X-ray micro-CT and SEM, it is possible to evaluate pore connectivity of different types of shales. The pore connectivity of three shales including a mixed mudstone, siliceous shale, and argillaceous shale from the Silurian Longmaxi Formations is investigated via combined broad ion beam (BIB) polishing, and SEM and X-ray micro-CT imaging after Wood’s metal injection at a pressure up to 380 MPa. The three shales show significant differences in pore connectivity. The mixed mudstone shows excellent pore connectivity in the matrix; the siliceous shale shows an overall poor connectivity with only a small amount of OM (organic matter) pores immediately adjacent to microfractures displaying interconnectivity, while the pores in the argillaceous shale, dominated by plate-like clay pores, are largely not interconnected.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingjun Chen ◽  
Peisong Li ◽  
Yili Kang ◽  
Xinping Gao ◽  
Dongsheng Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract The low flowback efficiency of fracturing fluid would severely increase water saturation in a near-fracture formation and limit gas transport capacity in the matrix of a shale gas reservoir. Formation heat treatment (FHT) is a state-of-the-art technology to prevent water blocking induced by fracturing fluid retention and accelerate gas desorption and diffusion in the matrix. A comprehensive understanding of its formation damage removal mechanisms and determination of production improvement is conducive to enhancing shale gas recovery. In this research, the FHT simulation experiment was launched to investigate the effect of FHT on gas transport capacity, the multi-field coupling model was established to determine the effective depth of FHT, and the numerical simulation model of the shale reservoir was established to analyze the feasibility of FHT. Experimental results show that the shale permeability and porosity were rising overall during the FHT, the L-1 permeability increased by 30- 40 times, the L-2 permeability increased by more than 100 times. The Langmuir pressure increased by 1.68 times and the Langmuir volume decreased by 26%, which means the methane desorption efficiency increased. Results of the simulation demonstrate that the FHT process can practically improve the effect of hydraulic fracturing and significantly increase the well production capacity. The stimulation mechanisms of the FHT include thermal stress cracking, organic matter structure changing, and aqueous phase removal. Furthermore, the special characteristics of the supercritical water such as the strong oxidation, can not be ignored, due to the FHT can assist the retained hydraulic fracturing fluid to reach the critical temperature and pressure of water and transform to the supercritical state. The FHT can not only alleviate the formation damage induced by the fracturing fluid, but also make good use of the retained fracturing fluid to enhance the permeability of a shale gas reservoir, which is an innovative method to dramatically enhance gas transport capacity in shale matrix.


2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (7) ◽  
pp. 2206-2215 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Filannino ◽  
G. Cardinali ◽  
C. G. Rizzello ◽  
S. Buchin ◽  
M. De Angelis ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTStrains ofLactobacillus plantarumwere grown and stored in cherry (ChJ), pineapple (PJ), carrot (CJ), and tomato (TJ) juices to mimic the chemical composition of the respective matrices. Wheat flour hydrolysate (WFH), whey milk (W), and MRS broth were also used as representatives of other ecosystems. The growth rates and cell densities ofL. plantarumstrains during fermentation (24 h at 30°C) and storage (21 days at 4°C) differed only in part, being mainly influenced by the matrix. ChJ and PJ were the most stressful juices for growth and survival. Overall, the growth in juices was negatively correlated with the initial concentration of malic acid and carbohydrates. The consumption of malic acid was noticeable for all juices, but mainly during fermentation and storage of ChJ. Decreases of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA)—with the concomitant increase of their respective branched alcohols—and His and increases of Glu and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) were the main traits of the catabolism of free amino acids (FAA), which were mainly evident under less acidic conditions (CJ and TJ). The increase of Tyr was found only during storage of ChJ. Some aldehydes (e.g., 3-methyl-butanal) were reduced to the corresponding alcohols (e.g., 3-methyl-1-butanol). After both fermentation and storage, acetic acid increased in all fermented juices, which implied the activation of the acetate kinase route. Diacetyl was the ketone found at the highest level, and butyric acid increased in almost all fermented juices. Data were processed through multidimensional statistical analyses. Except for CJ, the juices (mainly ChJ) seemed to induce specific metabolic traits, which differed in part among the strains. This study provided more in-depth knowledge on the metabolic mechanisms of growth and maintenance ofL. plantarumin vegetable and fruit habitats, which also provided helpful information to select the most suitable starters for fermentation of targeted matrices.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maik Lucas ◽  
Doris Vetterlein ◽  
Hans-Jörg Vogel ◽  
Steffen Schlüter

<p>An important parameter to quantify pore structure and link it to soil functions is connectivity. When quantifying connectivity with X-ray microtomography (X-ray-µCT), one of the major drawbacks is that high resolution can only be achieved in small samples. In these samples, the small pores can be described, but the connectivity of larger pores cannot be quantified reasonably.</p><p>Here we explore changes in pore connectivity with changing sample size covering a range of analyzed pore diameters of more than three orders of magnitude. Soil columns with a diameter of 10 cm were taken in two different depths (0 - 20 cm and 40 - 60 cm) at different sites of an agricultural chronosequence ranging in age from 0 to 24 years. X-ray CT was used for scanning the original columns as well as undisturbed subsamples of 3 and 0.7 cm diameter. This enabled us to detect characteristic traces in certain connectivity metrics on the chronosequence, caused by different pore types and thus different processes. In detail, we determined the connection probability of two random points within the pore system, i.e. the Γ-indicator and the Euler number, χ as a function of minimum pore diameter.</p><p>Our results revealed that scale artifacts in the connectivity functions overlap with characteristic signatures of certain pore types. For the very first time a new method for a joint-Γ-curve was developed that merges information from three samples sizes, as the Γ-indicator gives highly biased information in small samples. In contrast, χ does not require such a scale fusion and is helpful to define characteristic size ranges for pore types. Overall, findings suggest a joint evaluation of both connectivity metrics to identify the contribution of different pore types to the total pore connectivity with Γ and to disentangle different pore types with χ.</p><p>For the samples of the chronosequence such an evaluation revealed that biopores mainly connect pores of diameters between 0.1 and 0.5 mm. However, this was not necessarily coupled with increasing porosity. Tillage, conversely, lead to an increase in porosity due to a shift of pores of diameter >0.05 mm towards pores of diameter >0.20 mm and therefore increased connectivity of pores >0.20 mm.</p><p>The current study is part of the DFG-Project Soil Structure (AOBJ: 628683). </p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (11) ◽  
pp. 1653-1664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Shahneel Saharudin ◽  
Rasheed Atif ◽  
Islam Shyha ◽  
Fawad Inam

The degradation of mechanical properties in halloysite nanoclay–polyester nanocomposites was studied after an exposure of 24 h in diluted methanol system by clamping test specimens across steel templates. The glass transition temperature ( Tg) and storage modulus increased steadily with the increase of halloysite nanoclays before and after diluted methanol exposure. The addition of nano-fillers was found to reduce liquid uptake by 0.6% in case of 1 wt% reinforcement compared to monolithic polyester. The mechanical properties of polyester-based nanocomposites were found to decrease as a result of diluted methanol absorption. After diluted methanol exposure, the maximum microhardness, tensile, flexural and impact toughness values were observed at 1 wt% of halloysite nanoclay. The microhardness increased from 203 to 294 HV (45% increase). The Young’s modulus increased from 0.49 to 0.83 GPa (70% increase) and the tensile strength increased from 23 to 27 MPa (17.4% increase). The impact toughness increased from 0.19 to 0.54 kJ/m2 in diluted methanol system (184% increase). Surprisingly, the fracture toughness of all types of nanocomposites was found to increase after exposing to diluted methanol due to plasticization effect. Scanning electron microscope images of the fractured surfaces of tensile specimens revealed that the methanol increased the ductility of the matrix and reduced the mechanical properties of the nanocomposites.


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