Ali Al-Menhali

The impact of reservoir conditions on the residual trapping of carbon dioxide in Berea sandstone

The storage of carbon dioxide in deep brine-filled permeable rocks is an important tool for CO2 emissions mitigation on industrial scales. Residual trapping of CO2 through capillary forces within the pore space of the reservoir is one of the most significant mechanisms for storage security and is also a factor determining the ultimate extent of CO2 migration within the reservoir. In this study we have evaluated the impact of reservoir conditions of pressure, temperature, and brine salinity on the residual trapping characteristic curve of a fired Berea sandstone rock. The observations demonstrate that the initial-residual characteristic trapping curve is invariant across a wide range of pressure, temperature, and brine salinities and is also the same for CO2-brine systems as a N2-water system. The observations were made using a reservoir condition core-flooding laboratory that included high-precision pumps, temperature control, the ability to recirculate fluids for weeks at a time, and an X-ray CT scanner. Experimental conditions covered pressures of 5–20 MPa, temperatures of 25–50°C, and 0–5 mol/kg NaCl brine salinity. A novel coreflooding approach was developed, making use of the capillary end effect to create a large range in initial CO2 saturation (0.15–0.6) in a single coreflood. Upon subsequent flooding with CO2-equilibriated brine, the observation of residual saturation corresponded to the wide range of initial saturations before flooding resulting in a rapid construction of the initial-residual curve. For each condition we report the initial-residual curve and the resulting parameterization of the Land hysteresis models.

Capillary Trapping of CO2 in Oil Reservoirs: Observations in a Mixed-Wet Carbonate Rock.

Early deployment of carbon dioxide storage is likely to focus on injection into mature oil reservoirs, most of which occur in carbonate rock units. Observations and modeling have shown how capillary trapping leads to the immobilization of CO2 in saline aquifers, enhancing the security and capacity of storage. There are, however, no observations of trapping in rocks with a mixed-wet-state characteristic of hydrocarbon-bearing carbonate reservoirs. Here, we found that residual trapping of supercritical CO2 in a limestone altered to a mixed-wet state with oil was significantly less than trapping in the unaltered rock. In unaltered samples, the trapping of CO2 and N2 were indistinguishable, with a maximum residual saturation of 24%. After the alteration of the wetting state, the trapping of N2 was reduced, with a maximum residual saturation of 19%. The trapping of CO2 was reduced even further, with a maximum residual saturation of 15%. Best-fit Land-model constants shifted from C = 1.73 in the water-wet rock to C = 2.82 for N2 and C = 4.11 for the CO2 in the mixed-wet rock. The results indicate that plume migration will be less constrained by capillary trapping for CO2 storage projects using oil fields compared with those for saline aquifers.

Capillarity and wetting of carbon dioxide and brine during drainage in Berea sandstone at reservoir conditions

The wettability of CO2-brine-rock systems will have a major impact on the management of carbon sequestration in subsurface geological formations. Recent contact angle measurement studies have reported sensitivity in wetting behavior of this system to pressure, temperature, and brine salinity. We report observations of the impact of reservoir conditions on the capillary pressure characteristic curve and relative permeability of a single Berea sandstone during drainage—CO2 displacing brine—through effects on the wetting state. Eight reservoir condition drainage capillary pressure characteristic curves were measured using CO2 and brine in a single fired Berea sandstone at pressures (5–20 MPa), temperatures (25–50°C), and ionic strengths (0–5 mol kg−1 NaCl). A ninth measurement using a N2-water system provided a benchmark for capillarity with a strongly water wet system. The capillary pressure curves from each of the tests were found to be similar to the N2-water curve when scaled by the interfacial tension. Reservoir conditions were not found to have a significant impact on the capillary strength of the CO2-brine system during drainage through a variation in the wetting state. Two steady-state relative permeability measurements with CO2 and brine and one with N2 and brine similarly show little variation between conditions, consistent with the observation that the CO2-brine-sandstone system is water wetting and multiphase flow properties invariant across a wide range of reservoir conditions.

Pore Scale Observations of Trapped CO2 in Mixed-Wet Carbonate Rock: Applications to Storage in Oil Fields

Geologic CO2 storage has been identified as a key to avoiding dangerous climate change. Storage in oil reservoirs dominates the portfolio of existing projects due to favorable economics. However, in an earlier related work ( Al-Menhali and Krevor Environ. Sci. Technol. 2016 , 50 , 2727 - 2734 ) , it was identified that an important trapping mechanism, residual trapping, is weakened in rocks with a mixed wetting state typical of oil reservoirs. We investigated the physical basis of this weakened trapping using pore scale observations of supercritical CO2 in mixed-wet carbonates. The wetting alteration induced by oil provided CO2-wet surfaces that served as conduits to flow. In situ measurements of contact angles showed that CO2 varied from nonwetting to wetting throughout the pore space, with contact angles ranging 25° < θ < 127°; in contrast, an inert gas, N2, was nonwetting with a smaller range of contact angle 24° < θ < 68°. Observations of trapped ganglia morphology showed that this wettability allowed CO2 to create large, connected, ganglia by inhabiting small pores in mixed-wet rocks. The connected ganglia persisted after three pore volumes of brine injection, facilitating the desaturation that leads to decreased trapping relative to water-wet systems.

Advanced Reservoir Characterization for CO2 Storage

Abstract Injection of CO2 into the subsurface is of interest for CO2 storage and enhanced oil recovery (EOR). There are, however, major unresolved questions around the multiphase flow physics and reactive processes that will take place after CO2 is injected, particularly in carbonate rock reservoirs. For example, the wetting properties of CO2-brine-rock systems will impact the efficiency of EOR operations and CO2 storage but reported contact angles range widely from strongly water-wet to intermediate wet. Similar uncertainties exist for properties including the relative permeability and the impact of chemical reaction on flow. In this presentation we present initial results from laboratory studies investigating the physics of multiphase flow and reactive transport for CO2-brine systems. We use traditional and novel core flooding techniques and x-ray imaging to resolve uncertainties around the CO2-brine contact angle, relative permeability, residual trapping, and feedbacks between chemical reaction and flow in carbonate rocks.

Experimental and Analytical Investigation of Spontaneous Imbibition in Water-Wet Carbonates

We perform co-current spontaneous imbibition ambient-condition experiments in three carbonates with a wide range of permeability under strongly water-wet conditions. We measure water saturation profiles as a function of distance and time in air-filled rocks with no initial water saturation using X-ray CT scanning. We demonstrate that the saturation profiles are functions of distance divided by the square root of time. We also demonstrate that the profiles are consistent with analytical solutions for imbibition in one dimension, and using reasonable estimates of relative permeability and capillary pressure, we can match the experimental results. We discuss how, in combination with conventional measurements of relative permeability (steady-state or using Buckley–Leverett theory in an unsteady-state experiment), the capillary pressure can be determined, or how the relative permeability can be determined from the spontaneous imbibition experiment and the capillary pressure.