Abstract
Understanding the control of rock heterogeneity over CO2 flooding behavior in aquifer rocks is important for evaluating CO2 storage capacity in saline aquifers. In this study, an X-ray CT was adopted to visualize CO2 flooding processes in a Berea sandstone core with obvious layered heterogeneity. The experiment observed that CO2 migrated mostly along a few high-porosity layers, which resulted in obvious fingering phenomenon and significantly lowered CO2/brine displacement efficiency. When CO2 flooding became stable, the average CO2 saturation of the core was only 0.19. Through matching analysis of numerical simulation results with experimental measurements in magnitude and distribution of CO2 saturation in the entire core, rock heterogeneity was assessed meticulously, and it can be inferred that these high-porosity layers could possess much higher permeability (e.g., 1000 vs. 1 mD), significantly lower capillary entry pressure (e.g., 5000 vs. 15,000 Pa), and the relative permeability curve more conductive to water flow (0.3 vs. 0.0 in residual gas saturation parameter) than the remaining part in the core. Among these local petrophysical properties, capillary entry pressure and relative permeability of the high-porosity layers exerted a strong control on the overall CO2/brine displacement efficiency. When applying the reasonably estimated values for all these local petrophysical properties into numerical simulations of microbubble-CO2 flooding and CO2–water co-flooding, the simulated results showed microbubble CO2 flooding had better displacement performance. When CO2 flooding became stable, average CO2 saturation of the core for the microbubble flooding was ~ 0.31, obviously higher than that (< 0.2) for pure CO2 flooding and CO2–water co-flooding.
Article Highlights
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X-ray CT core flooding experiments visually observe CO2 flooding processes in a Berea core with layered heterogeneity.
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Rock heterogeneity is assessed through global matching of numerical simulations results with experimental measurements.
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Relative permeability and capillary pressure of heterogeneous layers control CO2 flooding behavior in the entire core.
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Funding
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China [Nos. 52176059 and 51776030]; Dalian Leading Academic & key Plan Project [2020JJ25CY010]; and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [No. DUT21LAB006].
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Zheng, Z., Wang, D. & Xue, Z. X-Ray CT Experimental and Global History Matching Analysis of CO2 Flooding Behavior in Heterogeneous Rocks with Layered Heterogeneity. Transp Porous Med 147, 725–746 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-023-01928-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-023-01928-2