Shale gas is an important
unconventional natural gas resource,
and its reservoirs have pores with strong heterogeneity, which have
an important effect on the adsorption and migration of shale gas,
but the specific mechanism is still unclear. To further clarify the
pore structure characteristics of shale gas reservoirs and the mechanism
of their influence on CH4 adsorption capacity, marine shale
samples from the Wufeng–Longmaxi formation of wells N1, N3,
and N10 in Changning block, southern Sichuan Basin, China, were selected
for total organic carbon (TOC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 gas adsorption (N2-GA), CH4 gas adsorption
(CH4-GA), and field emission scanning electron microscopy
(FE-SEM). The Frenkel–Halsey–Hill (FHH) model and Slit
Island Analysis (SIA) were used to calculate the fractal dimension
of the pore system and different types of pores, and their relationship
and influence on CH4 adsorption capacity were also discussed.
The results show that the fractal dimension could reflect the complexity
and heterogeneity of pores. According to the FHH model, fractal dimensions
of the surface and structure of the pore system (D
1 and D
2, D
1 < D
2) were obtained,
and the pore structure was more complex than the pore surface. According
to SIA, the surface fractal dimensions of four types of reservoir
space (D
DP, D
OP, D
IP, and D
MF) decrease progressively, and their main body is 2.60–2.80,
2.40–2.65, 2.20–2.40, and 2.05–2.30. Organic
pores and intergranular pores are the most abundant, and so D
1 is mainly related to D
OP and D
IP. In high-TOC samples, D
1 is close to D
OP, while in low-TOC samples, D
1 is close
to D
IP. The complexity of the pore surface, D
1, and specific surface area have a positive
correlation, and with the increase of pore surface complexity, methane
adsorption capacity could be significantly improved. Therefore, D
1 may be used as a characterization parameter
of CH4 adsorption capacity, which could provide some evidence
to further clarify the adsorption mechanism of shale gas.