Dynamics of enhanced gas trapping applied to CO2 storage in the presence of oil using synchrotron X-ray micro tomography
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Scanziani, Alessio
Singh, Kamaljit
Menke, Hannah
Bijeljic, Branko
Blunt, Martin J
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
During CO2 storage in depleted oil fields, under immiscible conditions, CO2 can be trapped in the pore space by capillary forces, providing safe storage over geological times - a phenomenon named capillary trapping. Synchrotron X-ray imaging was used to obtain dynamic three-dimensional images of the flow of the three phases involved in this process - brine, oil and gas (nitrogen) - at high pressure and temperature, inside the pore space of Ketton limestone. First, using continuous imaging of the porous medium during gas injection, performed after waterflooding, we observed chains of multiple displacements between the three phases, caused by the connectivity of the pore space. Then, brine was re-injected and double capillary trapping - gas trapping by oil and oil trapping by brine - was the dominant double displacement event. We computed pore occupancy, saturations, interfacial area, mean curvature and Euler characteristic to elucidate these double capillary trapping phenomena, which lead to a high residual gas saturation. Pore occupancy and saturation results show an enhancement of gas trapping in the presence of both oil and brine, which potentially makes CO2 storage in depleted oil reservoirs attractive, combining safe storage with enhanced oil recovery through immiscible gas injection. Mean curvature measurements were used to assess the capillary pressures between fluid pairs during double displacements and these confirmed the stability of the spreading oil layers observed, which facilitated double capillary trapping. Interfacial area and Euler characteristic increased, indicating lower oil and gas connectivity, due to the capillary trapping events.
Date Issued
2020-02-01
Date Acceptance
2019-11-11
Citation
Applied Energy, 2020, 259
ISSN
0306-2619
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Applied Energy
Volume
259
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Sponsor
Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Petroleum Operations (ADCO)
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000506575800035&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
16312.01
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Energy & Fuels
Engineering, Chemical
Engineering
CCUS
Three-phase flow
Capillary trapping
Multiple displacements
Gas storage
EOR
X-ray imaging
Synchrotron
CARBON-DIOXIDE STORAGE
WET POROUS-MEDIA
PORE-SCALE
3-PHASE FLOW
MULTIPHASE FLOW
RECOVERY
WATER
MICROTOMOGRAPHY
DISPLACEMENT
IMBIBITION
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 114136
Date Publish Online
2019-11-23