Capillary pressure-saturation relations in quartz and carbonate sands: Limitations for correlating capillary and wettability influences on air, oil, and supercritical CO2 trapping

Wang, Shibo; Tokunaga, Tetsu K.; Wan, Jiamin; Dong, Wenming; Kim, Yongman

doi:10.1002/2016wr018816

Title: Capillary pressure-saturation relations in quartz and carbonate sands: Limitations for correlating capillary and wettability influences on air, oil, and supercritical CO₂ trapping

Journal Article · Tue Aug 16 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Water Resources Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2016wr018816· OSTI ID:1581118

Wang, Shibo ^[1]; Tokunaga, Tetsu K. ^[1]; Wan, Jiamin ^[1]; Dong, Wenming ^[1]; Kim, Yongman ^[1]

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Energy Geosciences Division

Capillary pressure (P_c)-saturation (S_w) relations are essential for predicting equilibrium and flow of immiscible fluid pairs in soils and deeper geologic formations. In systems that are difficult to measure, behavior is often estimated based on capillary scaling of easily measured P_c–S_w relations (e.g., air-water, and oil-water), yet the reliability of such approximations needs to be examined. In this study, 17 sets of brine drainage and imbibition curves were measured with air-brine, decane-brine, and supercritical (sc) CO₂-brine in homogeneous quartz and carbonate sands, using porous plate systems under ambient (0.1 MPa, 23°C) and reservoir (12.0 MPa, 45°C) conditions. Comparisons between these measurements showed significant differences in residual nonwetting phase saturation, S_nw,r. Through applying capillary scaling, changes in interfacial properties were indicated, particularly wettability. With respect to the residual trapping of the nonwetting phases, S_{nwr, CO2} > S_{nwr, decane} > S_{nwr, air}. Decane-brine and scCO₂-brine Pc–Sw curves deviated significantly from predictions assuming hydrophilic interactions. Moreover, neither the scaled capillary behavior nor S_nw,r for scCO₂-brine were well represented by decane-brine, apparently because of differences in wettability and viscosities, indicating limitations for using decane (and other organic liquids) as a surrogate fluid in studies intended to apply to geological carbon sequestration. Thus, challenges remain in applying scaling for predicting capillary trapping and multiphase displacement processes across such diverse fields as vadose zone hydrology, enhanced oil recovery, and geologic carbon sequestration.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 (NCGC)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1581118

Journal Information:: Water Resources Research, Vol. 52, Issue 8; ISSN 0043-1397

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 24 works

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Title: Capillary pressure-saturation relations in quartz and carbonate sands: Limitations for correlating capillary and wettability influences on air, oil, and supercritical CO2 trapping

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Title: Capillary pressure-saturation relations in quartz and carbonate sands: Limitations for correlating capillary and wettability influences on air, oil, and supercritical CO₂ trapping