LB-simulated trapped nonwetting phase in Bentheimer sandstone

 

Collaborators:

 

Sponsor:

RA:

 

Marcel Schaap, Univ of Arizona

DOE Basic Energy Sciences

Anna Herring, Liz Harper, Linnea Andesson

The proposed research focuses on improved fundamental understanding of the efficiency of physical trapping mechanisms, and as such will provide the basis for subsequent upscaling efforts. The overarching hypothesis of the proposed research is that capillary pressure plays a significant role in capillary trapping of CO2, especially during the water imbibition stage of the sequestration process. We posit that the relevant physics of the sequestration process is more complex than is currently captured in so-called trapping models to represent relative permeability hysteresis. 

Our research questions will be addressed via high-resolution pore-scale imaging using synchrotron-based and conventional x-ray computed microtomography. Experiments will be focused on consolidated core material, and for a variety of “designer” wettabilities for each system. Supporting pore-scale simulations will be carried out using a multi-phase, multi-component, lattice-Boltzmann (LB) model, modified to handle supercritical CO2 and consolidated (fine-grained) material.