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Title: An Experimental Investigation of Flow Regimes in Imbibition and Drainage Using a Microfluidic Platform

Abstract

Instabilities in immiscible displacement along fluid-fluid displacement fronts in porous media are undesirable in many natural and engineered displacement processes such as geological carbon sequestration and enhanced oil recovery. In this study, a series of immiscible displacement experiments are conducted using a microfluidic platform across a wide range of capillary numbers and viscosity ratios. The microfluidic device features a water-wet porous medium, which is a two-dimensional representation of a Berea sandstone. Data is captured using a high-resolution camera, enabling visualization of the entire domain, while being able to resolve features as small as 10 µm. The study reports a correlation between fractal dimensions of displacement fronts and displacement front patterns in the medium. Results are mapped on a two-dimensional parameter space of log M and log Ca, and stability diagrams proposed in literature for drainage processes are superimposed for comparison. Compared to recent reports in the literature, the results in this work suggest that transition regimes may constitute a slightly larger portion of the overall flow regime diagram. This two-phase immiscible displacement study helps elucidate macroscopic processes at the continuum scale and provides insights relevant to enhanced oil recovery processes and the design of engineered porous media such as exchangemore » columns and membranes.« less

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
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  1. Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Mechanistic Control of Water-Hydrocarbon-Rock Interactions in Unconventional and Tight Oil Formations (CMC-UF); Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1566736
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1757996
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0019165
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Energies
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 12; Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 1996-1073
Publisher:
MDPI AG
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
42 ENGINEERING; Drainage; imbibition; fractal dimension; phase diagram; water; carbon capture; carbon sequestration; geophysics/geochemistry; mesoscale science; materials and chemistry by design; drainage

Citation Formats

Guo, Feng, and Aryana, Saman A. An Experimental Investigation of Flow Regimes in Imbibition and Drainage Using a Microfluidic Platform. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.3390/en12071390.
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Guo, Feng, & Aryana, Saman A. An Experimental Investigation of Flow Regimes in Imbibition and Drainage Using a Microfluidic Platform. United States. https://doi.org/10.3390/en12071390
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Guo, Feng, and Aryana, Saman A. Thu . "An Experimental Investigation of Flow Regimes in Imbibition and Drainage Using a Microfluidic Platform". United States. https://doi.org/10.3390/en12071390. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1566736.
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@article{osti_1566736,
title = {An Experimental Investigation of Flow Regimes in Imbibition and Drainage Using a Microfluidic Platform},
author = {Guo, Feng and Aryana, Saman A.},
abstractNote = {Instabilities in immiscible displacement along fluid-fluid displacement fronts in porous media are undesirable in many natural and engineered displacement processes such as geological carbon sequestration and enhanced oil recovery. In this study, a series of immiscible displacement experiments are conducted using a microfluidic platform across a wide range of capillary numbers and viscosity ratios. The microfluidic device features a water-wet porous medium, which is a two-dimensional representation of a Berea sandstone. Data is captured using a high-resolution camera, enabling visualization of the entire domain, while being able to resolve features as small as 10 µm. The study reports a correlation between fractal dimensions of displacement fronts and displacement front patterns in the medium. Results are mapped on a two-dimensional parameter space of log M and log Ca, and stability diagrams proposed in literature for drainage processes are superimposed for comparison. Compared to recent reports in the literature, the results in this work suggest that transition regimes may constitute a slightly larger portion of the overall flow regime diagram. This two-phase immiscible displacement study helps elucidate macroscopic processes at the continuum scale and provides insights relevant to enhanced oil recovery processes and the design of engineered porous media such as exchange columns and membranes.},
doi = {10.3390/en12071390},
journal = {Energies},
number = 7,
volume = 12,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Apr 11 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Thu Apr 11 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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https://doi.org/10.3390/en12071390
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