Enhanced oil/gas recovery and CO2 storage are a displacement process at pore scale, in which oil and gas are displaced by water or CO2 in reservoir at pore scale, or water is displaced by CO2 in aquifers at pore scale. This displacement is controlled by pore structure, pore wettability, pore surface chemistry, fluid viscosity and interfacial interaction between pore fluids and pore surfaces. The displacement controls the pore connectivity, therefore oil/gas recovery and CO2 storage capacity. We investigate the displacement and the effect of various factors on the displacement at pore scale and core scale.
We have developed an experimental rig to measure wettability of a single pore, to measure the displacement in a single pore and a core sample. With this rig, we can measure the effect of pore structure, pore wettability, physical and chemical properties of fluids on the displacement and transfer at pore scale. The measured pore-scale data can be integrated to pore network
Activities also include:
- Novel experimental approach for studies on liquid/gas transport/migration in porous media
- Relative importance of interfacial energy and liquid viscosity on liquid transport in porous medium
- Relative permeability hysteresis
- Optimization of flow structure in fluidized beds for CO2 capture and biomass combustion
