Imperial College London
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DrBrankoBijeljic

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Earth Science & Engineering

Principal Research Fellow
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 6420b.bijeljic

 
 
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Location

 

2.53Royal School of MinesSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Scanziani:2020:10.1029/2020wr027873,
author = {Scanziani, A and Alhosani, A and Lin, Q and Spurin, C and Garfi, G and Blunt, MJ and Bijeljic, B},
doi = {10.1029/2020wr027873},
journal = {Water Resources Research},
title = {In situ characterization of threephase flow in mixedwet porous media using synchrotron imaging},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2020wr027873},
volume = {56},
year = {2020}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - We use fast synchrotron Xray microtomography to understand threephase flow in mixedwet porous media to design either enhanced permeability or capillary trapping. The dynamics of these phenomena are of key importance in subsurface hydrology, carbon dioxide storage, oil recovery, food and drug manufacturing, and chemical reactors. We study the dynamics of a watergaswater injection sequence in a mixedwet carbonate rock. During the initial waterflooding, water displaced oil from pores of all size, indicating a mixedwet system with local contact angles both above and below 90°. When gas was injected, gas displaced oil preferentially with negligible displacement of water. This behavior is explained in terms of the gas pressure needed for invasion. Overall, gas behaved as the most nonwetting phase with oil as the most wetting phase; however, pores of all size were occupied by oil, water, and gas, as a signature of mixedwet media. Thick oil wetting layers were observed, which increased oil connectivity and facilitated its flow during gas injection. A chase waterflooding resulted in additional oil flow, while gas was trapped by oil and water. Furthermore, we quantified the evolution of the surface areas and both Gaussian and the total curvature, from which capillary pressure could be estimated. These quantities are related to the Minkowski functionals which quantify the degree of connectivity and trapping. The combination of water and gas injection, under mixedwet immiscible conditions, leads to both favorable oil flow and significant trapping of gas, which is advantageous for storage applications.
AU  - Scanziani,A
AU  - Alhosani,A
AU  - Lin,Q
AU  - Spurin,C
AU  - Garfi,G
AU  - Blunt,MJ
AU  - Bijeljic,B
DO  - 10.1029/2020wr027873
PY  - 2020///
SN  - 0043-1397
TI  - In situ characterization of threephase flow in mixedwet porous media using synchrotron imaging
T2  - Water Resources Research
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2020wr027873
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/83383
VL  - 56
ER  -
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