High-Speed Quantification of Pore-Scale Multiphase Flow of Water and Supercritical CO2 in 2-D Heterogeneous Porous Micromodels: Flow Regimes and Interface Dynamics

Li, Yaofa; Blois, Gianluca; Kazemifar, Farzan; Christensen, Kenneth T.

doi:10.1029/2018WR024635

High-Speed Quantification of Pore-Scale Multiphase Flow of Water and Supercritical CO₂ in 2-D Heterogeneous Porous Micromodels: Flow Regimes and Interface Dynamics

Journal Article · Mon Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Water Resources Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2018WR024635· OSTI ID:1767491

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Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States); Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka (Japan). International Inst. for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER); OSTI
Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States)
California State Univ. (CalState), Sacramento, CA (United States)
Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States); Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka (Japan). International Inst. for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER)

The pore-scale flow of CO₂ and water in 2-D heterogeneous porous micromodels over a Ca range of nearly three orders of magnitude was explored experimentally. The porous geometry is a close reprint of real sandstone, and the experiments were performed under reservoir-relevant conditions (i.e., 8 MPa and 21°C), thus ensuring relevance to practical CO₂ operations. High-speed fluorescent microscopy and image processing were employed to achieve temporally and spatially resolved data, providing a unique view of the dynamics underlying this multiphase flow scenario. Under conditions relevant to CO₂ sequestration, final CO₂ saturation was found to decrease and increase logarithmically with Ca within the capillary and viscous-fingering regimes, respectively, with a minimum occurring during regime crossover. Specific interfacial length generally scales linearly with CO₂ saturation, with higher slopes noted at high Ca due to stronger viscous and inertial forces, as supported by direct pore-scale observations. Additionally, statistical analysis of the interfacial movements revealed that pore-scale events are controlled by their intrinsic dynamics at low Ca, but overrun by the bulk flow at high Ca. During postfront flow, while permeability is typically correlated with total CO₂ saturation in the porous domain (regardless of its mobility), the saturation of active CO₂ pathways in the current study correlated very well with permeability. This alternate approach to characterize relative permeability could serve to mitigate hysteresis in relative permeability curves. Taken together, these results provide unique insights that address inconsistent observations in the literature and previously unanswered questions about the underlying flow dynamics of this important multiphase flow scenario.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Geologic Storage of CO2 (GSCO2); Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)

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

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012504

OSTI ID:: 1767491

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1510551

Journal Information:: Water Resources Research, Journal Name: Water Resources Research Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 55; ISSN 0043-1397

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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