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Ilgen AG, Borguet E, Geiger FM, Gibbs JM, Grassian VH, Jun YS, Kabengi N, Kubicki JD. Bridging molecular-scale interfacial science with continuum-scale models. Nat Commun 2024; 15:5326. [PMID: 38909017 PMCID: PMC11193788 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49598-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2023] [Accepted: 06/07/2024] [Indexed: 06/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Solid-water interfaces are crucial for clean water, conventional and renewable energy, and effective nuclear waste management. However, reflecting the complexity of reactive interfaces in continuum-scale models is a challenge, leading to oversimplified representations that often fail to predict real-world behavior. This is because these models use fixed parameters derived by averaging across a wide physicochemical range observed at the molecular scale. Recent studies have revealed the stochastic nature of molecular-level surface sites that define a variety of reaction mechanisms, rates, and products even across a single surface. To bridge the molecular knowledge and predictive continuum-scale models, we propose to represent surface properties with probability distributions rather than with discrete constant values derived by averaging across a heterogeneous surface. This conceptual shift in continuum-scale modeling requires exponentially rising computational power. By incorporating our molecular-scale understanding of solid-water interfaces into continuum-scale models we can pave the way for next generation critical technologies and novel environmental solutions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasia G Ilgen
- Geochemistry Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, 87123, USA.
| | - Eric Borguet
- Department of Chemistry, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA
| | - Franz M Geiger
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Julianne M Gibbs
- Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2G2, Canada
| | - Vicki H Grassian
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Young-Shin Jun
- Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA
| | - Nadine Kabengi
- Department of Geosciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 30302, USA
| | - James D Kubicki
- Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA
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Ahmadi-Falavarjani A, Mahani H, Ayatollahi S. Pore-scale simulation of low-salinity waterflooding in mixed-wet systems: effect of corner flow, surface heterogeneity and kinetics of wettability alteration. Sci Rep 2024; 14:6563. [PMID: 38503821 PMCID: PMC10950873 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-56846-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
The initial wettability state of the candidate oil reservoirs for low-salinity waterflooding (LSWF) is commonly characterized as mixed-wet. In mixed-wet systems, both the two-phase flow dynamics and the salt transport are significantly influenced by the corner flow of the wetting phase. Thus this study aims at comprehensive evaluation of LSWF efficiency by capturing the effect of corner flow and non-uniform wettability distribution. In this regard, direct numerical simulations under capillary-dominated flow regime were performed using the OpenFOAM Computational Fluid Dynamics toolbox. The results indicate that corner flow results in the transport of low-salinity water ahead of the primary fluid front and triggers a transition in the flow regime from a piston-like to multi-directional displacement. This then makes a substantial difference of 22% in the ultimate oil recovery factors between the 2D and quasi-3D models. Furthermore, the interplay of solute transport through corners and wettability alteration kinetics can lead to a new oil trapping mechanism, not reported in the literature, that diminishes LSWF efficiency. While the findings of this study elucidate that LSWF does exhibit improved oil recovery compared to high-salinity waterflooding, the complicating phenomena in mixed-wet systems can significantly affect the efficiency of this method and make it less successful.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ali Ahmadi-Falavarjani
- Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
| | - Hassan Mahani
- Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Shahab Ayatollahi
- Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
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Giudici LM, Raeini AQ, Akai T, Blunt MJ, Bijeljic B. Pore-scale modeling of two-phase flow: A comparison of the generalized network model to direct numerical simulation. Phys Rev E 2023; 107:035107. [PMID: 37073001 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.107.035107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 02/17/2023] [Indexed: 04/20/2023]
Abstract
Despite recent advances in pore-scale modeling of two-phase flow through porous media, the relative strengths and limitations of various modeling approaches have been largely unexplored. In this work, two-phase flow simulations from the generalized network model (GNM) [Phys. Rev. E 96, 013312 (2017)2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.96.013312; Phys. Rev. E 97, 023308 (2018)2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.97.023308] are compared with a recently developed lattice-Boltzmann model (LBM) [Adv. Water Resour. 116, 56 (2018)0309-170810.1016/j.advwatres.2018.03.014; J. Colloid Interface Sci. 576, 486 (2020)0021-979710.1016/j.jcis.2020.03.074] for drainage and waterflooding in two samples-a synthetic beadpack and a micro-CT imaged Bentheimer sandstone-under water-wet, mixed-wet, and oil-wet conditions. Macroscopic capillary pressure analysis reveals good agreement between the two models, and with experiments, at intermediate saturations but shows large discrepancy at the end-points. At a resolution of 10 grid blocks per average throat, the LBM is unable to capture the effect of layer flow which manifests as abnormally large initial water and residual oil saturations. Critically, pore-by-pore analysis shows that the absence of layer flow limits displacement to invasion-percolation in mixed-wet systems. The GNM is able to capture the effect of layers, and exhibits predictions closer to experimental observations in water and mixed-wet Bentheimer sandstones. Overall, a workflow for the comparison of pore-network models with direct numerical simulation of multiphase flow is presented. The GNM is shown to be an attractive option for cost and time-effective predictions of two-phase flow, and the importance of small-scale flow features in the accurate representation of pore-scale physics is highlighted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luke M Giudici
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Ali Q Raeini
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Takashi Akai
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Martin J Blunt
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Branko Bijeljic
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
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Apolinário FDO, Pires AP. Mathematical Modeling of Low Salinity Waterflooding in Sandstone Reservoirs: Enhanced Oil Recovery by Multicomponent Cation Exchange. Chem Eng Res Des 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cherd.2023.03.050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/31/2023]
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Jiang J, Jackson F, Tangparitkul S, Wilson MCT, Harbottle D. Discontinuous dewetting dynamics of highly viscous droplets on chemically heterogeneous substrates. J Colloid Interface Sci 2023; 629:345-356. [PMID: 36162392 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.09.064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2022] [Revised: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
HYPOTHESIS Droplet spreading on heterogeneous (chemical/structural) surfaces has revealed local disturbances that affect the advancing contact line. With droplet dewetting being less studied, we hypothesize that a receding droplet can be perturbed by localized heterogeneity which leads to irregular and discontinuous dewetting of the substrate. EXPERIMENTS The sessile drop method was used to study droplet dewetting at a wettability boundary. One-half of a hydrophilic surface was hydrophobically modified with either i) methyloctyldichlorosilane or ii) clustered macromolecules. A Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) simulation was also developed to determine the effect of contact angle hysteresis and boundary conditions on the droplet dynamics. FINDINGS The two surface treatments were optimized to produce comparable water wetting characteristics. With a negative Gibbs free energy on the hydrophilic-half, the oil droplet receded to the hydrophobic-half. On the silanized surface, the droplet was pinned and the resultant droplet shape was a distorted spherical cap, having receded uniformly on the unmodified surface. Modifying the surface with clustered macromolecules, the droplet receded slightly to form a spherical cap. However, droplet recession was non-uniform and daughter droplets formed near the wettability boundary. The LBM simulation revealed that daughter droplets formed when θR > 164°, with the final droplet shape accurately described by imposing a diffuse wettability boundary condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiatong Jiang
- School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, UK
| | | | | | | | - David Harbottle
- School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, UK.
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Pore-scale processes in tertiary low salinity waterflooding in a carbonate rock: micro-dispersions, water film growth, and wettability change. J Colloid Interface Sci 2022; 628:486-498. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2022] [Revised: 06/06/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
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Yang JY, Dai XY, Xu QH, Liu ZY, Shi L. Comparative investigation of a lattice Boltzmann boundary treatment of multiphase mass transport with heterogeneous chemical reactions. Phys Rev E 2022; 105:055302. [PMID: 35706296 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.105.055302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Multiphase reactive transport in porous media is an important component of many natural and engineering processes. In the present study, boundary schemes for the continuum species transport-lattice Boltzmann (CST-LB) mass transport model and the multicomponent pseudopotential model are proposed to simulate heterogeneous chemical reactions in a multiphase system. For the CST-LB model, a lattice-interface-tracking scheme for the heterogeneous chemical reaction boundary is provided. Meanwhile, a local-average virtual density boundary scheme for the multicomponent pseudopotential model is formulated based on the work of Li et al. [Li, Yu, and Luo, Phys. Rev. E 100, 053313 (2019)10.1103/PhysRevE.100.053313]. With these boundary treatments, a numerical implementation is put forward that couples the multiphase fluid flow, interfacial species transport, heterogeneous chemical reactions, and porous matrix structural evolution. A series of comparison benchmark cases are investigated to evaluate the numerical performance for different pseudopotential wetting boundary treatments, and an application case of multiphase dissolution in porous media is conducted to validate the present models' ability to solve complex problems. By applying the present LB models with reasonable boundary treatments, multiphase reactive transport in various natural or engineering scenarios can be simulated accurately.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun-Yu Yang
- Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Xiao-Ye Dai
- Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Qiang-Hui Xu
- Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Zhi-Ying Liu
- Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Lin Shi
- Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Yang JY, Dai XY, Xu QH, Liu ZY, Shi L, Long W. Lattice Boltzmann modeling of interfacial mass transfer in a multiphase system. Phys Rev E 2021; 104:015307. [PMID: 34412297 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.104.015307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
In the present study, a numerical model based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is proposed to simulate multiphase mass transfer, referred to as the CST-LB model. This model introduced continuum species transfer (CST) formulation by an additional collision term to model the mass transfer across the multiphase interface. The boundary condition treatment of this model is also discussed. In order to verify the applicability, the CST-LB model is combined with the pseudopotential multiphase model to simulate a series of benchmark cases, including concentration jump near the interface, gas dissolution in a closed system, species transport during drainage in a capillary tube, and multiphase species transport in the porous media. This CST-LB model can also be coupled with other multiphase LBMs since the model depends on the phase fraction field, which is not explicitly limited to specified multiphase models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun-Yu Yang
- Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Xiao-Ye Dai
- Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Qiang-Hui Xu
- Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Zhi-Ying Liu
- Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Lin Shi
- Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Wei Long
- Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518057, China and iCore Group Inc., Shenzhen 518057, China
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Cheng Z, Ning Z, Kang DH. Lattice Boltzmann simulation of water flow through rough nanopores. Chem Eng Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2020.116329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Alizadeh M, Fatemi M. Mechanistic study of the effects of dynamic fluid/fluid and fluid/rock interactions during immiscible displacement of oil in porous media by low salinity water: Direct numerical simulation. J Mol Liq 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2020.114544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Akai T, Lin Q, Bijeljic B, Blunt MJ. Using energy balance to determine pore-scale wettability. J Colloid Interface Sci 2020; 576:486-495. [PMID: 32502883 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.03.074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2020] [Revised: 03/19/2020] [Accepted: 03/20/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
HYPOTHESIS Based on energy balance during two-phase displacement in porous media, it has recently been shown that a thermodynamically consistent contact angle can be determined from micro-tomography images. However, the impact of viscous dissipation on the energy balance has not been fully understood. Furthermore, it is of great importance to determine the spatial distribution of wettability. We use direct numerical simulation to validate the determination of the thermodynamic contact angle both in an entire domain and on a pore-by-pore basis. SIMULATIONS Two-phase direct numerical simulations are performed on complex 3D porous media with three wettability states: uniformly water-wet, uniformly oil-wet, and non-uniform mixed-wet. Using the simulated fluid configurations, the thermodynamic contact angle is computed, then compared with the input contact angles. FINDINGS The impact of viscous dissipation on the energy balance is quantified; it is insignificant for water flooding in water-wet and mixed-wet media, resulting in an accurate estimation of a representative contact angle for the entire domain even if viscous effects are ignored. An increasing trend in the computed thermodynamic contact angle during water injection is shown to be a manifestation of the displacement sequence. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of wettability can be represented by the thermodynamic contact angle computed on a pore-by-pore basis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takashi Akai
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, SW7 2BP, UK.
| | - Qingyang Lin
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, SW7 2BP, UK
| | - Branko Bijeljic
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, SW7 2BP, UK
| | - Martin J Blunt
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, SW7 2BP, UK
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Blunt MJ, Akai T, Bijeljic B. Evaluation of methods using topology and integral geometry to assess wettability. J Colloid Interface Sci 2020; 576:99-108. [PMID: 32413784 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.04.118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2020] [Revised: 04/26/2020] [Accepted: 04/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
HYPOTHESIS The development of high-resolution in situ imaging has allowed contact angles to be measured directly inside porous materials. We evaluate the use of concepts in integral geometry to determine contact angle. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that it is possible to determine an average contact angle from measurements of the Gaussian curvature of the fluid/fluid meniscus using the Gauss-Bonnet theorem. THEORY AND SIMULATION We show that it is not possible to unambiguously determine an average contact angle from the Gauss-Bonnet theorem. We instead present an approximate relationship: 2πn(1-cosθ)=4π-∫κG12dS12, where n is the number of closed loops of the three-phase contact line where phases 1 and 2 contact the surface, θ is the average contact angle, while κG12 is the Gaussian curvature of the fluid meniscus which is integrated over its surface S12. We then use the results of pore-scale lattice Boltzmann simulations to assess the accuracy of this approach to determine a representative contact angle for two-phase flow in porous media. FINDINGS We show that in simple cases with a flat solid surface, the approximate expression works well. When applied to simulations on pore space images, the equation provides a robust estimate of contact angle, accurate to within 3°, when averaged over many fluid clusters, although individual values can have significant errors because of the approximations used in the calculation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin J Blunt
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BP, UK.
| | - Takashi Akai
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BP, UK
| | - Branko Bijeljic
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BP, UK
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A Laboratory Approach on the Hybrid-Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques with Different Saline Brines in Sandstone Reservoirs. Processes (Basel) 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/pr8091051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
As foams are not thermodynamically stable and might be collapsed, foam stability is defined by interfacial properties and bulk solution. In this paper, we investigated foam injection and different salinity brines such as NaCl, CaCl2, KCl, and MgCl2 to measure cumulative oil production. According to the results of this experiment, it is concluded that sequential low-salinity water injections with KCl and foam flooding have provided the highest cumulative oil production in sandstone reservoirs. This issue is related to high wettability changes that had been caused by the KCl. As K+ is a monovalent cation, KCl has the highest wettability changes compared to other saline brines and formation water at 1000 ppm, which is due to the higher wettability changes of potassium (K+) over other saline ions. The interfacial tension for KCl at the lowest value is 1000 ppm and, for MgCl2, has the highest value in this concentration. Moreover, the formation brine, regarding its high value of salty components, had provided lower cumulative oil production before and after foam injection as it had mobilized more in the high permeable zones and, therefore, large volumes of oil would be trapped in the small permeable zones. This was caused by the low wettability alteration of the formation brine. Thereby, formation water flowed in large pores and the oil phase remained in small pores and channels. On the other hand, as foams played a significant role in the mobility control and sweep efficiency, at 2 pore volume, foam increased the pressure drop dramatically after brine injection. Consequently, foam injection after KCl brine injection had the maximum oil recovery factor of 63.14%. MgCl2 and formation brine had 41.21% and 36.51% oil recovery factor.
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