Relative Permeability and Flow Intermittency Measurements Using X-Ray Micro-tomography in a Complex Microporous Carbonate

We imaged the steady-state flow of brine and decane at different fractional flows during dual injection in a micro-porous limestone using X-ray micro-tomography. We applied differential imaging on Estaillades carbonate to (a) distinguish micro-porous regions from macro-pores, and (b) determine fluid phase pore occupancy and relative permeability at a capillary number, Ca = 7.3×10-6. The sample porosity was approximately 28 %, with 7% in macro-pores and 21% in pores that could not be directly resolved (micro-porosity). We find that, in addition to brine and decane, a fraction of the macroscopic pore space contains an intermittent phase, which is occupied either by brine or oil during the hour-long scan time. Furthermore, fluid occupancy in micro-porosity was classified into three sub-phases: micro-pore space with oil, micro-pore space with brine, and micro pores partially filled with oil and brine.

Citation proposal
Martin Blunt (Imperial College London) - Branko Bijeljic (Imperial College London) - Ying Gao (Imperial College London) - Ali Q. Raeini (Imperial College London). Relative Permeability and Flow Intermittency Measurements Using X-Ray Micro-tomography in a Complex Microporous Carbonate. https://metadata.bgs.ac.uk/geonetwork/srv/api/records/80c29090-bde6-03a5-e054-002128a47908

Simple

Date ( Creation ): 2018

Identifier: http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13607417

Point of contact

Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research Centre - qccsrc@imperial.ac.uk

United Kingdom

Author

Imperial College London - Martin Blunt

London United Kingdom

Author

Imperial College London - Branko Bijeljic

London United Kingdom

Author

Imperial College London - Ying Gao

London United Kingdom

Point of contact

Imperial College London - Ying Gao

London United Kingdom

Author

Imperial College London - Ali Q. Raeini

London United Kingdom

Maintenance and update frequency: notApplicable notApplicable

GEMET - INSPIRE themes

Geology

BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences

Carbon capture and storage , Tomography , Permeability , Carbonates

Keywords

NERC_DDC

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Use constraints: otherRestrictions Other restrictions

Other constraints: The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused.

Other constraints: Either: (i) the dataset is made freely available, e.g. via the Internet, for a restricted category of use (e.g. educational use only); or (ii) the dataset has not been formally approved by BGS for access and use by external clients under licence, but its use may be permitted under alternative formal arrangements; or (iii) the dataset contains 3rd party data or information obtained by BGS under terms and conditions that must be consulted in order to determine the permitted usage of the dataset. Refer to the BGS staff member responsible for the creation of the dataset if further advice is required. He / she should be familiar with the composition of the dataset, particularly with regard to 3rd party IPR contained in it, and any resultant use restrictions. This staff member should revert to the IPR Section (ipr@bgs.ac.uk ) for advice, should the position not be clear.

Metadata language: English English

Topic category

Geoscientific information

Reference System Information

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Raw ()

OnLine resource: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/ukccs/accessions/index.html#item125555

OnLine resource: http://dx.doi.org/10.5285/f899eb2f-37a4-4dec-9b59-432f11250894

Hierarchy level: nonGeographicDataset Non geographic dataset

Other: non geographic dataset

Conformance result

Date ( Publication ): 2011

Explanation: See the referenced specification

Pass: false

Conformance result

Date ( Publication ): 2010-12-08

Explanation: See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:323:0011:0102:EN:PDF

Pass: false

Statement: We have established a novel experimental and image analysis methodology to measure the relative permeability and pore occupancy in a complex micro-porous carbonate. We have demonstrated this by conducting waterflood experiments on Estaillades limestone sample at a capillary number, Ca =7.3×10-6 and performing differential imaging to distinguish macro-pore space, explicitly resolvable in the image, and micro-porosity, together with fluid occupancy. During multiphase flow we could distinguish three types of fluid occupancy in the micro-pore space II: filled with oil, filled with brine, and partially-saturated with both brine and oil present. The micro-porosity contributed significantly to the total porosity: the fully brine-saturated portion of the pore space contributed to a large initial brine saturation after primary drainage. Keywords: Micro-CT imaging; Recovery in micro-pores; Quantifying oil (phase) in micro-porosity; Relative permeability; Intermittency; Differential imaging method