Pore Scale Investigation of Oil Displacement Dynamics by Smart Waterflooding using Synchrotron X-ray Microtomography

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianzhu Qin ◽  
Paul Fenter ◽  
Mohammed AlOtaibi ◽  
Subhash Ayirala ◽  
Ali AlYousef
Keyword(s):  
Pore Scale ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Oil Displacement

Pore-Scale Oil Connectivity and Displacement by Controlled-Ionic-Composition Waterflooding Using Synchrotron X-Ray Microtomography

SPE Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Tianzhu Qin ◽  
Paul Fenter ◽  
Mohammed AlOtaibi ◽  
Subhash Ayirala ◽  
Ali AlYousef
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Carbonate Rock ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Ionic Composition ◽  
Sulfate Concentration ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Ion Concentrations ◽  
Oil Displacement ◽  
The Impact

Summary Controlled-ionic-composition waterflooding is an economic and effective method to improve oil recovery in carbonate oil reservoirs. Recent studies show controlling the salinity and ionic composition of injection water can alter the wettability of carbonate mineral surfaces. The pore-scale oil connectivity and displacement by controlled-ionic-composition waterflooding in heterogeneous carbonate reservoirs, especially at the early stage, is still unclear. The goal of this study is to examine the role of ion concentrations and types in the oil displacement efficiency and investigate the impact of the waterflooding on the pore-scale oil displacement using the national synchrotron facility. A carbonate rock sample was flooded with synthetic high-salinity water and other water solutions with different sulfate concentrations. The waterflooding processes were visualized with synchrotron X-ray microtomography to follow the evolution of pore-scale oil/brine interactions at typical field flow rates. Experimental results show that the water with lower sulfate concentration and higher salinity did not change the wettability of the pore surfaces. Higher sulfate ion concentrations in the water, in contrast, altered the wettability of carbonate pore surfaces from oil-wet to neutral-wet within the first few minutes of waterflooding. Novel insight was gained on the ability of water with high-sulfate concentration to displace oil in the small pores and through abundant oil channels, which could consequently lead to higher oil recovery from the carbonate rock.

scholarly journals Direct Numerical Simulation of Pore-Scale Trapping Events During Capillary-Dominated Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mosayeb Shams ◽  
Kamaljit Singh ◽  
Branko Bijeljic ◽  
Martin J. Blunt
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Porous Media ◽  
Direct Numerical Simulation ◽  
Complex Geometry ◽  
Flow In Porous Media ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Contact Lines ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Aspect Ratios

AbstractThis study focuses on direct numerical simulation of imbibition, displacement of the non-wetting phase by the wetting phase, through water-wet carbonate rocks. We simulate multiphase flow in a limestone and compare our results with high-resolution synchrotron X-ray images of displacement previously published in the literature by Singh et al. (Sci Rep 7:5192, 2017). We use the results to interpret the observed displacement events that cannot be described using conventional metrics such as pore-to-throat aspect ratio. We show that the complex geometry of porous media can dictate a curvature balance that prevents snap-off from happening in spite of favourable large aspect ratios. We also show that pinned fluid-fluid-solid contact lines can lead to snap-off of small ganglia on pore walls; we propose that this pinning is caused by sub-resolution roughness on scales of less than a micron. Our numerical results show that even in water-wet porous media, we need to allow pinned contacts in place to reproduce experimental results.

scholarly journals Enhancement of oil recovery by emulsion injection: A pore scale analysis from X-ray micro-tomography measurements

2021 ◽  
Vol 198 ◽  
pp. 108134
Author(s):  
Kamila Scheffer ◽  
Yves Méheust ◽  
Marcio S. Carvalho ◽  
Marcos H.P. Mauricio ◽  
Sidnei Paciornik
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Scale Analysis ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Micro Tomography

Geochemical controls on wettability alteration at pore-scale during low salinity water flooding in sandstone using X-ray micro computed tomography

Fuel ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 271 ◽  
pp. 117675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongqiang Chen ◽  
Nilesh Kumar Jha ◽  
Duraid Al-Bayati ◽  
Maxim Lebedev ◽  
Mohammad Sarmadivaleh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Computed Tomography ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Wettability Alteration ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Micro Computed Tomography ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Low Salinity ◽  
Low Salinity Water ◽  
Geochemical Controls ◽  
Salinity Water

scholarly journals Micro- and macro-scale water retention properties of granular soils: contribution of the X-Ray CT-based voxel percolation method

Soil Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 575
Author(s):  
Erika Shiota ◽  
Toshifumi Mukunoki ◽  
Laurent Oxarango ◽  
Anne-Julie Tinet ◽  
Fabrice Golfier
Keyword(s):  
Water Retention ◽  
Drainage Water ◽  
Transport Processes ◽  
Water Retention Curve ◽  
Granular Soils ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Micro Computed Tomography ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Percolation Method ◽  
Macro Scale

Water retention in granular soils is a key mechanism for understanding transport processes in the vadose zone for various applications from agronomy to hydrological and environmental sciences. The macroscopic pattern of water entrapment is mainly driven by the pore-scale morphology and capillary and gravity forces. In the present study, the drainage water retention curve (WRC) was measured for three different granular materials using a miniaturised hanging column apparatus. The samples were scanned using X-ray micro-computed tomography during the experiment. A segmentation procedure was applied to identify air, water and solid phases in 3D at the pore-scale. A representative elementary volume analysis based on volume and surface properties validated the experimental setup size. A morphological approach, the voxel percolation method (VPM) was used to model the drainage experiment under the assumption of capillary-dominated quasi-static flow. At the macro-scale, the VPM showed a good capability to predict the WRC when compared with direct experimental measurements. An in-depth comparison with image data also revealed a satisfactory agreement concerning both the average volumetric distributions and the pore-scale local topology. Image voxelisation and the quasi-static assumption of VPM are likely to explain minor discrepancies observed at low suctions and for coarser materials.

scholarly journals Particle based method and X-ray computed tomography for pore-scale flow characterization in VRFB electrodes

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 91-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Maggiolo ◽  
Filippo Zanini ◽  
Francesco Picano ◽  
Andrea Trovò ◽  
Simone Carmignato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Computed Tomography ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Flow Characterization ◽  
X Ray Computed

scholarly journals Direct characterization of solute transport in unsaturated porous media using fast X-ray synchrotron microtomography

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (38) ◽  
pp. 23443-23449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharul Hasan ◽  
Vahid Niasar ◽  
Nikolaos K. Karadimitriou ◽  
Jose R. A. Godinho ◽  
Nghia T. Vo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solute Transport ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Concentration Field ◽  
Solute Concentration ◽  
Breakthrough Curves ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Long Tails ◽  
Computed Microtomography

Solute transport in unsaturated porous materials is a complex process, which exhibits some distinct features differentiating it from transport under saturated conditions. These features emerge mostly due to the different transport time scales at different regions of the flow network, which can be classified into flowing and stagnant regions, predominantly controlled by advection and diffusion, respectively. Under unsaturated conditions, the solute breakthrough curves show early arrivals and very long tails, and this type of transport is usually referred to as non-Fickian. This study directly characterizes transport through an unsaturated porous medium in three spatial dimensions at the resolution of 3.25 μm and the time resolution of 6 s. Using advanced high-speed, high-spatial resolution, synchrotron-based X-ray computed microtomography (sCT) we obtained detailed information on solute transport through a glass bead packing at different saturations. A large experimental dataset (>50 TB) was produced, while imaging the evolution of the solute concentration with time at any given point within the field of view. We show that the fluids’ topology has a critical signature on the non-Fickian transport, which yet needs to be included in the Darcy-scale solute transport models. The three-dimensional (3D) results show that the fully mixing assumption at the pore scale is not valid, and even after injection of several pore volumes the concentration field at the pore scale is not uniform. Additionally, results demonstrate that dispersivity is changing with saturation, being twofold larger at the saturation of 0.52 compared to that at the fully saturated domain.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document