Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-c654p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-28T09:21:46.880Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Permeability alteration induced by drying of brines in porous media

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2012

Y. Peysson*
Affiliation:
IFP Énergies nouvelles, 1 & 4 avenue de Bois-Préau, 92852 Rueil-Malmaison, France
Get access

Abstract

Permeability of reservoir rocks can be strongly altered by salt precipitation induced by drying. Indeed, gas injection in deep saline aquifers leads first to the brine displacement. The liquid saturation decreases near the injection point and reaches a residual water saturation. But at longer time, the water mass transfer to the gas phase by evaporation can become significant and the dissolved salt can precipitate in the porous structure. The solid salts fill the pores and the permeability decreases. Permeability alteration by salting out is a risk of injectivity decline in the context of CO2 geological storage in saline aquifers where high level of gas injection has to be maintained over decades. However, this problem has been poorly investigated. It implies physical processes that are strongly coupled: drying, water and gas flows in the porous structure and precipitation. This work is an experimental investigation aiming at measuring on natural rock samples the permeability alteration induced by convective drying where dry gas is injected through the sample. We show that alteration of permeability is strong and total blockage of the flow is even possible. We also show that the change in porosity due to the solid salt is heterogeneous along the rock samples. A local permeability-porosity relationship has been estimated from the measurements and we could deduce the permeability alteration function of time by modeling the drying dynamic. We show that it starts very early because capillary backflows are extremely efficient in this process to accumulate solid salt near the injection surfaces.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Nadeau, J.P., Puiggali, J.R., Drying – From Physical Properties to Industrial Processes (Tec & Doc Lavoisiers, Paris, France, 1995), p. 307 [in French]Google Scholar
Coussot, P., Eur. Phys. J. B 15, 557 (2000)CrossRef
Laurindo, J.B., Prat, M., Chem. Eng. Sci. 53, 2257 (1998)CrossRef
Le Bray, Y., Prat, M., Int. J. Heat Mass Trans. 42, 4207 (1999)CrossRef
Chauvet, F., Duru, P., Geoffroy, S., Prat, M., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 124502 (2009)CrossRef
Shokri, N., Lehmann, P., Vontobel, P., Or, D., Water Resour. Res. 44, W06418 (2008)CrossRef
Lenormad, R., Zarcone, C., Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 2226 (1985)CrossRef
Lenormand, R., Touboul, E., Zarcone, C., J. Fluid Mech. 189, 165 (1988)CrossRef
Lenormand, R., Zarcone, C., Transp. Porous Media 4, 599 (1989)CrossRef
Lenormand, R., J. Phys. Condens. Matter 2, 79 (1990)CrossRef
Cottin, C., Bodiguel, H., Collin, A., Phys. Rev. E 82, 046315 (2010)CrossRef
Løvoll, G., Méheust, Y., Toussaint, R., Schmittbuhl, J., Jørgen Måløy, K., Phys. Rev. E 70, 026301 (2004)CrossRef
Leverett, M.C., Trans. AIME 132, 149 (1938)CrossRef
Bear, J., Dynamics of Fluids in Porous Media (Elsevier, New York, 1972)Google Scholar
Hassanizadeh, S.M., Gray, W.G., Adv. Water Resour. 13, 169 (1990)CrossRef
Joekar-Niasar, V., Hassanizadeh, S.M., Water Resour. Res. 17, W05513 (2011)
Doster, F., Hilfer, R., New J. Physics 13, 123030 (2011)CrossRef
Mahadevan, J., Sharma, M.M., Yortsos, Y.C., AIChE J. 52, 2367 (2006)CrossRef
Mahadevan, J., Sharma, M.M., Yortsos, Y.C., Transp. Porous Media 66, 287 (2007)CrossRef
André, L., Audigane, P., Azaroual, M., Menjoz, A., Energy Convers. Manag. 48, 1782 (2007)CrossRef
Zeidouni, M., Pooladi-Darvish, M., Keith, D., Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control 3, 600 (2009)CrossRef
Pruess, K., Müller, N., Water Resour. Res. 45, W03402 (2009)
Giorgis, T., Carpita, M., Battistelli, A., Energy Convers. Manag. 28, 1816 (2007)CrossRef
Peysson, Y., Fleury, M., Blázquez-Pascual, V., Transp. Porous Media 90, 1001 (2011)CrossRef
Shahidzadeh-bonn, N., Desarnaud, J., Bertrand, F., Chateau, X., Bonn, D., Phys. Rev. E. 81, 066110 (2010)CrossRef
Guglielmini, L., Gontcharov, A., Aldykiewicz, J., Stones, H.A., Phys. Fluids 20, 077101 (2008)CrossRef
Huinink, H.P., Pel, L., Michels, M.A.J., Phys. Fluids 14, 1389 (2002)CrossRef
Sghair, N., Prat, M., Ben Nasrallah, S., Transp. Porous Media 67, 243 (2007)CrossRef
Veran-Tissoires, S., Marcoux, M., Prat, M., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 054502 (2012)CrossRef
Quirk, J.P., Schofiel, R.K., J. Soil Sci. 20, 163 (1966)
Khilar, K.C., Fogler, H.S., J. Colloid Interface Sci. 100, 214 (1984)CrossRef
Brosse, É., Magnier, C., Vincent, B., Oil Gas Sci. Technol. 60, 287 (2005)CrossRef
Golfier, F., Zarcone, C., Bazin, B., Lenormand, R., Lasseux, D., Quintard, M., J. Fluid Mech. 457, 213 (2002)CrossRef
Egermann, P., Lenormand, R., Petrophysics 46, 335 (2005)
Puiggali, J.R., Quintard, M., in Advances in Drying Chapter 4, edited by Mujumdar, A.S., vol 5 (Hemisphere, Washington, DC, 1992), p.109Google Scholar