Modeling the Effect of Reduced Liquid-Wetting on Spontaneous Imbibition for Condensate Blocking Applications

Abstract

In this paper, we present our interpretation for some of the unexpected experimental results that we obtained during 3D spontaneous imbibition experiments. We treated carbonate rocks with flourochemical polymers where we altered the wettability towards reduced liquid-wetting. The expected result is a reduced imbibition rate as a result of reduced capillary forces. Although the early imbibition rate decreased, we observed an increase in rate at late imbibition time resulting in a higher liquid saturation in the altered rock. We used numerical modeling to interpret the result and show that this observation actually represents the target wettability state we should be seeking in some applications.