Estimation of NAPL-Water interfacial areas for unconsolidated porous media by kinetic interface sensitive (KIS) tracers

Tatomir, Alexandru; Gao, Huhao; Pötzl, Christopher; Karadimitriou, Nikolaos; Licha, Tobias; Class, Holger; Helmig, Rainer; Sauter, Martin

doi:10.1002/essoar.10503948.1

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The data on which this article is based are available in Tatomir et al (2023). This project was funded by the German Research Foundation, DFG, under project number 428614366.…”

Section: Data Availability Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Water Resources Research

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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.

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“…The data on which this article is based are available in Tatomir et al (2023). This project was funded by the German Research Foundation, DFG, under project number 428614366.…”

Section: Data Availability Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Water Resources Research

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“…However, one limitation of these methods is that they are mainly applied under steady state or quasi‐static conditions (Tatomir et al., 2018). The kinetic interface sensitive tracer test (KIS‐TT) was developed for tracking the FIFA in dynamic processes (Tatomir et al., 2018; Tatomir, Jyoti, et al., 2016), as an alternative to IPTT and XMT methods for determining the FIFA under transient conditions (Tatomir et al., 2018, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the column outlet measurements of fluid volume and 2-NSA concentration of the samples collected at defined time intervals provided breakthrough curves (BTCs) of fluid volumes and the 2-NSA concentration in the water phase. The analysis of the experimental data was conducted employing a macro-scale, reactive, two-phase flow and transport model (Tatomir et al, 2015(Tatomir et al, , 2018(Tatomir et al, , 2019(Tatomir et al, , 2020Tatomir, Jyoti, et al, 2016), with the interfacial reaction of the tracer being specified in the zones with both fluids co-existing, and the FIFA approximated explicitly as a function of saturation. The model predicted a nearly linear concentration BTC which could fit most of the experimental data points.…”

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confidence: 99%

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

Gao

Tatomir

Karadimitriou

et al. 2021

Water Resources Research

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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)

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Effects of macro-scale heterogeneity on the kinetic interface-sensitive tracer test for measuring the fluid–fluid interfacial area in dynamic two-phase flow in porous media

et al. 2023

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A novel reactive smart tracer method, termed the kinetic interface-sensitive (KIS) tracer test, has been demonstrated in laboratory column experiments to enable measurement of the specific capillary-associated fluid–fluid interfacial area in dynamic two-phase flow displacement processes in porous media. Development of the tracer method towards effective application in real field conditions requires investigation of the influence of the porous media heterogeneity on the front size and the specific interfacial area, and, consequently, in how far a kinetic interface-sensitive tracer experiment, and the corresponding breakthrough curves, are affected. This study employs a two-dimensional Darcy-scale two-phase flow reactive transport model to investigate numerically the KIS tracer transport in heterogeneous porous media. Simulations were carried out for the primary drainage process in a domain formed of fine and coarse porous media. Various heterogeneity patterns, having different numbers of inclusions and different geometrical distributions, were studied. It is shown that the shape of the breakthrough curves can be used as an indicator for quantifying the displacement front roughness, the specific interfacial area in the domain, and the domain heterogeneity, e.g., the existence of preferential flow pathways inside the porous media. The results indicate that when the displacement front roughness is small, the concentration breakthrough curves exhibit a linear increase. The slopes of the breakthrough curves linearly depend on the fraction of the bulk volume occupied by the low-permeability sand inclusions. The volume-averaged specific interfacial area and the size of the transition zone can be determined from the slopes of the breakthrough curves.

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Estimation of NAPL-Water interfacial areas for unconsolidated porous media by kinetic interface sensitive (KIS) tracers

Cited by 3 publications

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

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

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

Effects of macro-scale heterogeneity on the kinetic interface-sensitive tracer test for measuring the fluid–fluid interfacial area in dynamic two-phase flow in porous media

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