Effect of pore sizes on composition distribution and enhance recovery from liquid shale—Molecular sieving in low permeability reservoirs

Alfi, Masoud; Barrufet, María A.; Killough, John

doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2018.08.063

Cited by 34 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Nevertheless, the preparation of the samples is highly elaborated in the adsorption methods and proper interpretation of the NMR measurements require accurate knowledge of the properties of both the skeleton and the fluid in the pore space ( Cieszko et al, 2019 ). Also, the use of a set of different porosimetry techniques is the appropriate means to characterize the PSDs of porous media having an extremely wide range of pore sizes ( Bultreys et al, 2016 ), such as tight reservoir rocks , porous building materials ( Roel et al, 2001 ), some types of sandstones ( Tsakiroglou and Payatakes, 20 0 0 ) and shales ( Chen et al, 2018 ;Alfi et al, 2019 ). In this regard, MIP data sets along with SEM images of reservoir rocks and mineral soils were combined with percolation-type approaches and inverse modeling algorithms to characterize the pore structure of heterogeneous materials with a broad range of pore length scales, spanning some orders of magnitude ( Tsakiroglou and Ioannidis, 2008 ;Tsakiroglou et al, 2009 ;Amirtharaj et al, 2011 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical porosimetry: Evaluation and comparison of yield stress fluids method, mercury intrusion porosimetry and pore network modelling approaches

Castro

Agnaou

Ahmadi-Sénichault

et al. 2020

Computers & Chemical Engineering

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Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP) is still today the reference porosimetry technique despite its environmental health and safety concerns. As a safe alternative, the Yield Stress fluids Method (YSM) consists in computing the Pore Size Distribution (PSD) of a given material from the pressure drop vs. flow rate measurements during injection of a yield stress fluid. However, the question arises whether the PSDs provided by YSM are representative of the actual pore dimensions. To answer this question, three numerical methods to obtain the PSD from digital images are proposed and compared in the present work. First, direct numerical simulations of YSM tests are performed in the considered media. Then, realistic PSDs are extracted from the images by using pore Network Modelling (NM). Furthermore, the obtained networks are also used to simulate MIP tests. The quantitative numerical results allow the evaluation of the relevance of YSM as an alternative to toxic MIP.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical porosimetry: Evaluation and comparison of yield stress fluids method, mercury intrusion porosimetry and pore network modelling approaches

Castro

Agnaou

Ahmadi-Sénichault

et al. 2020

Computers & Chemical Engineering

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“…Moreover, the same analysis can be performed by using digital images coming from 3D microtomography experiments, which represents a promising landscape for the validation and calibration of alternative porosimetry methods as YSM with a wide range of porous media. It should be borne in mind that, while wider size distributions are expected in porous rocks and other natural porous media (Wang et al 2018;Wu et al 2018;Ali et al 2019), the use of model porous media with well-deined pore and throat sizes is a mandatory stage for the evaluation of the reliability and accuracy of YSM results. The efects on PSD of the standard deviation of the sphere sizes in diferent types of packed lattices were investigated by Nolan and Kavanagh (1994) through numerical computations and can be used in future validation of YSM for polydisperse packs of beads.…”

Section: Pore Size Distribution Obtained With Pore-network Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other usual porosimetry methods, such as nitrogen or water-desorption porosimetry (Rouquerol et al 2012;Bultreys et al 2016), require extremely elaborated preparation of the samples and the test times are long. The combination of several techniques is the only option to fully characterize PSDs covering many orders of magnitude in size (Bultreys et al 2016;Li et al 2018a, b;Wang et al 2018;Chen et al 2018;Ali et al 2019). Ambari et al (1990) presented the theoretical aspects of a novel porosimetry method based on the derivation of the PSD from the low rate Q versus pressure gradient ∇P measurements obtained during the injection of a yield stress luid through a porous sample.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of Non-toxic Yield Stress Fluids Porosimetry Method and Pore-Network Modelling to Characterize the Pore Size Distribution of Packs of Spherical Beads

et al. 2019

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With X-ray computed tomography still being lawed as a result of limitations in terms of spatial resolution and cost, toxic mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) is nowadays the prevailing technique to determine PSDs of most porous media. Recently, yield stress luids porosimetry method (YSM) has been identiied as a promising clean alternative to MIP. This technique is based on the particular percolation patterns followed by yield stress luids, which only low through certain pores when injected at a given pressure gradient. In previous works, YSM was used to characterize natural and synthetic porous media, and the results were compared with MIP showing reasonable agreement. However, considerable uncertainty still remains regarding the characterized pore dimension with each method arising from the highly complex geometry of the interstices in real porous media. Therefore, a critical stage for the validation of YSM consists in achieving successful characterization of model porous media with well-known pore morphology and topology. With this objective in mind, a set of four packs of glass beads each with a given monodisperse bead size were characterized in the present work using diferent porosimetry methods: experimental YSM, numerically simulation of MIP and pore-network extraction from a 3D image. The results provided by these techniques were compared, allowing the identiication of the pore dimensions being characterized in each case. The results of this research elucidate the causes of the discrepancies between the considered porosimetry methods and demonstrate the usefulness of the PSD provided by YSM when predicting low in porous media.

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“…Although pores are larger in the MB and TF intervals, the pore throat radii are still very small and average only about 10–15 nm (Table ) as compared to the conventional reservoirs that have pore throats in the range of several microns to mm. − UBS and LBS also have about one-third of their pore throat radii smaller than 2.5 nm, and MB/TF average about 5% of their pore throat radii <2.5 nm, a size similar to the molecular size of the middle and heavier hydrocarbons present in Bakken crude oil (Table ). , These extremely small pore throats suggest that oil expulsion and migration mechanisms may be very different than those that dominate in the conventional reservoirs where the permeabilities are much higher and pore throats can be thousands to millions of times larger (micron to millimeter range) than the nanometer pore throats found in source shales from systems such as the Bakken, Eagle Ford, and Barnett. − …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turtles and Snakes: Evidence for Molecular Shape-Selective Migration of Crude Oil Hydrocarbons in the Bakken Petroleum System

et al. 2021

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Aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons were analyzed in extracts from 105 rock core samples collected from 16 wells across the Bakken Petroleum System in the Williston Basin, North Dakota (USA). Crude oil hydrocarbons recovered from the Upper (UBS) and Lower (LBS) Bakken shale source rocks had consistently higher proportions of aromatic hydrocarbons compared to aliphatic hydrocarbons than were found in the adjacent Middle Bakken (MB) and Three Forks (TF) target drilling zones. The higher aromatic/aliphatic (Ar/Al) ratios in the UBS and LBS source zones as compared to the adjacent MB and TF producing zones and the near molecular-sized nanometer pore throats in the UBS and LBS rocks suggest that primary migration of the aromatic hydrocarbons out of the source shale pores was (and still is) inhibited by the rounded, flat, and rigid "turtle" shape of the aromatic hydrocarbons significantly more than by the linear and flexible "snake" shape of the aliphatic hydrocarbons. Additional evidence for inhibited primary migration of aromatics versus aliphatics based on molecular shape was shown in laboratory experiments by comparing their recovery rates from the "as-received" UBS, LBS, and MB rock core samples from three wells using supercritical CO 2 and supercritical ethane under reservoir conditions of 34.5 MPa and 110 °C. CO 2 and ethane gave similar aromatic hydrocarbon recovery rates with all the rock samples regardless of whether recoveries from the individual rocks were slow or fast. Since CO 2 as a solvent can better disrupt polar interactions between aromatics and the shale organic matrix than ethane, the similarity in recovery rates comparing CO 2 and ethane indicates that sorption of the aromatics to the source shale organic matrix was not the primary reason for their inhibited migration. However, the recovery of aromatics as compared to the same-sized aliphatics (same carbon number) was much more inhibited from the UBS and LBS samples than from the MB samples, results which provide further evidence that shapeselective filtration during primary migration out of the source shale nanopores is the dominant mechanism for lower Ar/Al ratios in the oil-producing MB and TF zones than in the source UBS and LBS zones.

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Effect of pore sizes on composition distribution and enhance recovery from liquid shale—Molecular sieving in low permeability reservoirs

Cited by 34 publications

References 56 publications

Numerical porosimetry: Evaluation and comparison of yield stress fluids method, mercury intrusion porosimetry and pore network modelling approaches

Numerical porosimetry: Evaluation and comparison of yield stress fluids method, mercury intrusion porosimetry and pore network modelling approaches

Application of Non-toxic Yield Stress Fluids Porosimetry Method and Pore-Network Modelling to Characterize the Pore Size Distribution of Packs of Spherical Beads

Turtles and Snakes: Evidence for Molecular Shape-Selective Migration of Crude Oil Hydrocarbons in the Bakken Petroleum System

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