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Title: Pore-scale prediction of transport properties in reconstructed nanostructures of organic matter in shales

Journal Article · · Fuel
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3]
  1. Xi’an Jiaotong Univ., Shaanxi (China). Key Lab. of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering; Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  3. Xi’an Jiaotong Univ., Shaanxi (China). Key Lab. of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering
+ Show Author Affiliations

Size, morphology and distributions of pores in organic matter of shale matrix are discussed based on high resolution images from experiments in the literature. 250 nanoscale structures of the organic matter are then reconstructed by randomly placing pore spheres with different diameters and overlap tolerances. Effects of porosity, the mean diameter and the overlap tolerance on void space connectivity and pore size distribution are studied. Furthermore, a pore-scale model based on the lattice Boltzmann method developed in a previous study is used to predict the Knudsen diffusivity and permeability of the reconstructed organic matter. The simulation results show that the mean pore diameter and overlap tolerance significantly affect the transport properties. The predicted Knudsen effective diffusivity is compared with Bruggeman equation and it is found that this equation underestimates the tortuosity. A modified Bruggeman equation is proposed based on the simulation results. The predicted intrinsic permeability is in acceptable agreement with Kozeny–Carman (KC) equation. In addition, the apparent permeability is determined based on Knudsen diffusivity and intrinsic permeability predicted. The apparent permeability is compared with that obtained with various correlations in the literature. Lastly, Knudsen’s correlations match best with our numerical results and are recommended for calculating the apparent permeability.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Nature Science Foundation of China (NNSFC); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1469526
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1359122
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-14-28668
Journal Information:
Fuel, Vol. 158, Issue C; ISSN 0016-2361
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 61 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 360, Issue 1792 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2001.0955
journal March 2002
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Cited By (4)

Study of Gas Flow Characteristics in Tight Porous Media with a Microscale Lattice Boltzmann Model journal September 2016
Extending a Gray Lattice Boltzmann Model for Simulating Fluid Flow in Multi-Scale Porous Media journal April 2018
Numerical Simulation of Multiphase Flow in Nanoporous Organic Matter With Application to Coal and Gas Shale Systems: MULTIPHASE FLOW IN NANOORGANIC MATTER journal February 2018
Molecular insights into competitive adsorption of CO 2 /CH 4 mixture in shale nanopores journal January 2018

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Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
Energy Sciences
Organic Chemistry
Organic matter
Knudsen diffusion
Permeability
Diffusivity
Tortuosity
Lattice Boltzmann method