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Water removal from porous media by gas injection: experiments and simulation

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Abstract

The flow of a saturated gas through a porous medium, partially occupied by a liquid phase, causes evaporation due to gas expansion. This process, referred to as flow-through drying, is important in a wide variety of natural and industrial applications, such as natural gas production, convective drying of paper, catalysts, fuel cells and membranes. X-ray imaging experiments were performed to study the flow-through drying of water-saturated porous media during gas injection. The results show that the liquid saturation profile and the rate of drying are dependent on the viscous pressure drop, the state of saturation of the gas and the capillary characteristics of the porous medium. During the injection of a completely saturated gas, drying occurs only due to gas expansion. Capillary-driven flow from regions of high saturation to regions of low saturation lead to more uniform saturation profiles. During the injection of a dry gas, a drying front develops at the inlet and propagates through the porous medium. The experimental results are compared with numerical results from a continuum model. A good agreement is found for the case of sandstone. The comparison is less satisfactory for the experiments with limestone.

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Abbreviations

a gm :

dimensionless geometric factor

C :

dimensionless pressure drop

C a :

attenuation coefficient

g :

gravitational constant, 9.8 m/s2.

I :

attenuated X-ray intensity

I 0 :

inital X-ray intensity

k :

gas permeability at mean pressure, D (9.87 × 10−13 m 2).

k rg :

relative permeability to gas.

k rgo :

end-point relative permeability to gas.

k rx :

relative permeability of phase ‘x’.

k rgx :

end-point relative permeability of phase ‘x’.

L :

length of core; m.

N wi :

dimensionless wicking number

P :

pressure, atm.

P s :

saturation pressure, atm.

P c :

capillary pressure, atm.

r c :

hydraulic radius of a rectangular capillary, m.

R g :

universal gas constant, 8.314 J/mol/K.

S :

saturation.

S xr :

residual saturation of phase ‘x’.

S̅:

normalized saturation.

T :

temperature,°C.

u :

velocity, m/s.

V P :

pore volume of rock, AϕL;m3.

y :

dimensionless length.

y w :

mole fraction of water in gas.

y ws :

mole fraction of water at 100% relative humidity.

z :

gas compressibility factor.

Subscripts :

 

0:

inlet position of sample.

L:

outlet position of sample.

g:

gas phase.

w:

water phase.

T:

total value.

M:

mean value.

D:

dimensionless quantity.

j:

a single x-ray ‘j’.

Greek letters. :

 

ϕ:

porosity of core.

μ:

viscosity, kg/m/s2.

γ:

interfacial tension of air–water interface; kg/s2.

α′:

capillary pressure curve constant, atm.

α:

concentration of water in gas phase, mol/m3.

β:

concentration of water in liquid phase, mol/ m3.

ɛ:

drying time scaling factor.

λ:

gas mobility at mean pressure.

λr :

relative gas mobility.

ρ:

density, kg/m3.

π:

scaled pressure, atm.

Π:

modified pressure, Pg − P s atm.

τ:

scaled time ( = ɛt), s.

γ:

interfacial tension, N/m.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, USA

    Jagannathan Mahadevan

  2. Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Mukul M. Sharma

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Yannis C. Yortsos

Authors
  1. Jagannathan Mahadevan
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  2. Mukul M. Sharma
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  3. Yannis C. Yortsos
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Correspondence to Jagannathan Mahadevan.

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Mahadevan, J., Sharma, M.M. & Yortsos, Y.C. Water removal from porous media by gas injection: experiments and simulation. Transp Porous Med 66, 287–309 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-006-0030-z

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