A Review of Lattice-Boltzmann Models Coupled with Geochemical Modeling Applied for Simulation of Advanced Waterflooding and Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes

Abstract

To maintain economic profit and improve the oil production efficiency after the primary and secondary production phase, advanced waterflooding techniques such as low salinity waterflooding in carbonate reservoirs have been investigated in numerical simulations, laboratory experiments, and field pilot tests. Multiple underlying mechanisms have been proposed based on these studies, and they are still under debate. Various numerical modeling approaches are introduced, but there exists a lack of a pore-scale comprehensive modeling scheme to fully understand the processes. Lattice-Boltzmann method (LBM) is a type of numerical fluid flow modeling technique that shows capabilities and flexibilities in modeling pore-scale fluid flow to integrate physical–chemical processes within complex structures. The intrinsic feature of LBM makes it a promising framework for simulating advanced waterflooding due to its flexibility, accuracy, and parallel efficiency. LBM works either by itself for solving reactive transport problems or by coupling with a third-party reaction solver. This review mainly introduces the LBM fluid flow and reactive transport capabilities and the concept and modeling approaches to simulate advanced waterflooding techniques. Meanwhile, an evaluation of the coupled LBM models for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) simulations is discussed with future research challenges and directions concluded.

Ionic Interactions at the Crude Oil–Brine–Rock Interfaces Using Different Surface Complexation Models and DLVO Theory: Application to Carbonate Wettability

“…At the pore/microscale, microfluidic devices and micro-CT have been used to observe the mobilization of the oil molecules caused by wettability alteration and fluid–fluid interaction such as microdispersion formation and osmosis. 47 − 52 In a recent review by Liu et al, 53 geochemistry was combined with a Lattice Boltzmann pore model to indicate how nanoscale observations from SCM could be translated to pore or microscale. The observations at the nano and microscales also translate to the observation of oil recovery at the macroscale through coreflooding experiments.…”

“…They observed that the changes in wettability due to surface roughness could not be predicted by the Wenzel contact angle model, indicating the importance of incorporating electrostatic interactions at different length scales for analysis. At the pore/microscale, microfluidic devices and micro-CT have been used to observe the mobilization of the oil molecules caused by wettability alteration and fluid–fluid interaction such as microdispersion formation and osmosis. − In a recent review by Liu et al, geochemistry was combined with a Lattice Boltzmann pore model to indicate how nanoscale observations from SCM could be translated to pore or microscale. The observations at the nano and microscales also translate to the observation of oil recovery at the macroscale through coreflooding experiments. , However, the time it takes for oil to be recovered during low salinity waterflooding has seldomly been treated in the literature.…”

Coupled Lattice Boltzmann Modeling Framework for Pore-Scale Fluid Flow and Reactive Transport

“…A series of advection–diffusion types of problems can be formed within the LBM modeling framework, for instance, chemical transport, , heat transfer, , multicomponent reactive transport in porous media, and reactive transport associated solid dissolution modeling . Some of the studies coupled the LBM flow model with a third-party reaction solver to model the complex pore-scale reactive transport scenarios. ,,− More related studies on LBM reactive transport-associated applications can be found in review papers. , …”

“…40,42 Among those external solvers, PHREEQC 43 developed by USGS and its variants IPhreeqc 44 and PHREEQCRM 45 have been used extensively for reactive transport coupling due to their strong capabilities for solving complex reactions. 46 IPhreeqc utilizes the Microsoft component object model (COM) interface to communicate with the outside code. Numerous studies have used IPhreeqc for reactive transport modeling, including LBM-based models.…”

Unified directional parabolic-accurate lattice Boltzmann boundary schemes for grid-rotated narrow gaps and curved walls in creeping and inertial fluid flows

“…The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) [1][2][3] applies for fluid modeling within a wide range of engineering, biological and physical problems with complex static and moving surfaces, such as particle-laden ones [4][5][6][7][8][9], suspensions of soft particles [10], red blood cells [11] and pulsatile [12,13] flows, porous flow in materials [14], synthetic structures [15][16][17][18][19][20], or natural rocks [21][22][23][24]. These problems are essentially described by the Stokes and finite Reynolds number regimes, and characterized by a coarse grid resolution over a narrow fluid path.…”