An integrated core-based analysis for the characterization of flow, transport and mineralogical parameters of the Heletz pilot CO 2 storage site reservoir

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By employing kinetic interface sensitive (KIS) tracers, we investigate three different types of glass‐bead materials and three natural porous media systems to quantitatively characterize the influence of the porous‐medium grain‐, pore‐size and texture on the specific capillary‐associated interfacial area (FIFA) between an organic liquid and water. By interpreting the breakthrough curves (BTCs) of the reaction product of the KIS tracer hydrolysis, we obtain a relation for the specific IFA and wetting phase saturation. The immiscible displacement process coupled with the reactive tracer transport across the fluid–fluid interface is simulated with a Darcy‐scale numerical model. Linear relations between the specific capillary‐associated FIFA and the inverse mean grain diameter can be established for measurements with glass beads and natural soils. We find that the grain size has minimal effect on the capillary‐associated FIFA for unconsolidated porous media formed by glass beads. Conversely, for unconsolidated porous media formed by natural soils, the capillary‐associated FIFA linearly increases with the inverse mean grain diameter, and it is much larger than that from glass beads. This indicates that the surface roughness and the irregular shape of the grains can cause the capillary‐associated FIFA to increase. The results are also compared with the data collected from literature, measured with high resolution microtomography and partitioning tracer methods. Our study considerably expands the applicability range of the KIS tracers and enhances the confidence in the robustness of the method.

Section: Mathematical Modeling and Interpretation Of The Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Porous Media Grainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Estimation of Capillary‐Associated NAPL‐Water Interfacial Areas for Unconsolidated Porous Media by Kinetic Interface Sensitive (KIS) Tracer Method

Tatomir,

Gao,

Abdullah

et al. 2023

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“…In the current study, 3D networks were constructed based on X‐ray CT scans of Bentheimer and Heletz sandstones (Niemi et al., 2016; Pore‐Scale Modeling Research Group; Tatomir et al., 2016). The Bentheimer network consists of 9484 pores and 21,405 throats, with a porosity of 21.6%, and a permeability of 3,249 mD.…”

Section: Model Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pore‐Scale Determination of Residual Gas Remobilization and Critical Saturation in Geological CO₂ Storage: A Pore‐Network Modeling Approach

Moghadasi

Foroughi

Basirat

et al. 2023

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Remobilization of residually trapped CO2 can occur under pressure depletion, caused by any sort of leakage, brine extraction for pressure maintenance purposes, or simply by near wellbore pressure dissipation once CO2 injection has ceased. This phenomenon affects the long‐term stability of CO2 residual trapping and should therefore be considered for an accurate assessment of CO2 storage security. In this study, pore‐network modeling is performed to understand the relevant physics of remobilization. Gas remobilization occurs at a higher gas saturation than the residual saturation, the so‐called critical saturation; the difference is called the mobilization saturation, a parameter that is a function of the network properties and the mechanisms involved. Regardless of the network type and properties, Ostwald ripening tends to slightly increase the mobilization saturation, thereby enhancing the security of residual trapping. Moreover, significant hysteresis and reduction in gas relative permeability is observed, implying slow reconnection of the trapped gas clusters. These observations are safety enhancing features, due to which the remobilization of residual CO2 is delayed. The results, consistent with our previous analysis of the field‐scale Heletz experiments, have important implications for underground gas and CO2 storage. In the context of CO2 storage, they provide important insights into the fate of residual trapping in both the short and long term.

“…Pore-scale modeling plays an important role in understanding the porescale phenomena and can provide fundamental insight to understand the macro-scale processes (Meakin & Tartakovsky, 2009). With pore-scale modeling, the flow and transport properties of the soil/rock matrix are not averaged but are directly resolved, and the pore-space geometry is explicitly represented either by using idealized geometries or by reconstructed geometries based on XMT images (e.g., Culligan et al, 2004;Peche et al, 2016;Tatomir, Halisch, et al, 2016). In addition, running pore-scale simulations is a more flexible approach than the experiments since there is freedom to tune accordingly the fluids' physical and chemical properties, and the geometry of the porous medium for a variety of boundary conditions.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Two‐Phase, Pore‐Scale Reactive Transport Model for the Kinetic Interface‐Sensitive Tracer

Gao

Tatomir

Karadimitriou

et al. 2021

Understanding multi-phase, multi-component, reactive flow and transport in porous media is important for a wide range of scientific and engineering applications. Such applications comprise for example the geological storage of carbon dioxide, groundwater remediation, enhanced oil recovery, material manufacturing, and so on (Scheer et al., 2021). In this context, the quantification of the magnitude of the Fluid-Fluid Interfacial Area (FIFA) is essential for studying reactive multi-phase flow and transport in porous materials (Hassanizadeh & Gray, 1990;Miller et al., 1990;Reeves & Celia, 1996). For example, in geological storage of CO 2 , both the rate of CO 2 dissolution in brine and the extent of the residual trapping are determined by the FIFA (Tatomir et al., 2018). Existing techniques for FIFA measurement mainly comprise tracer techniques, e.g., Interfacial Partitioning Tracer Tests (IPTT)