SFB 1313, C04: Pore-scale and REV-scale approaches to biological and chemical pore-space alteration in porous media

Abstract

Many subsurface engineering technologies or natural processes cause porous medium properties, such as porosity or permeability, to evolve in time. Studying and understanding such processes on the pore scale is strongly aided by visualizing the details of geometric and morphological changes in the pores. For realistic 3D porous media, X-Ray Computed Tomography (XRCT) is the method of choice for visualization. However, the necessary high spatial resolution requires either access to limited high-energy synchrotron facilities or data acquisition times which are considerably longer (e.g. hours) than the time scales of the processes causing the pore geometry change (e.g. minutes). Thus, so far, conventional benchtop XRCT technologies are often too slow to allow for studying dynamic processes. Interrupting experiments for performing XRCT scans is also in many instances no viable approach. We propose a novel workflow for investigating dynamic precipitation processes in porous media systems in 3D using a convent.

Abstract

Leakage mitigation methods are an important part of reservoir engineering and subsurface fluid storage, in particular. In the context of multi-phase systems of subsurface storage, e.g., subsurface CO2 storage, a reduction in the intrinsic permeability is not the only parameter to influence the potential flow or leakage; multi-phase flow parameters, such as relative permeability and capillary pressure, are key parameters that are likely to be influenced by pore-space reduction due to leakage mitigation methods, such as induced precipitation. In this study, we investigate the effects of enzymatically induced carbonate precipitation on capillary pressure–saturation relations as the first step in accounting for the effects of induced precipitation on multi-phase flow parameters. This is, to our knowledge, the first exploration of the effect of enzymatically induced carbonate precipitation on capillary pressure–saturation relations thus far. First, pore-scale resolved microfluidic experiments in 2D glass cells and 3D sintered glass-bead columns were conducted, and the change in the pore geometry was observed by light microscopy and micro X-ray computed tomography, respectively. Second, the effects of the geometric change on the capillary pressure–saturation curves were evaluated by numerical drainage experiments using pore-network modeling on the pore networks extracted from the observed geometries. Finally, parameters of both the Brooks–Corey and Van Genuchten relations were fitted to the capillary pressure–saturation curves determined by pore-network modeling and compared with the reduction in porosity as an average measure of the pore geometry’s change due to induced precipitation. The capillary pressures increased with increasing precipitation and reduced porosity. For the 2D setups, the change in the parameters of the capillary pressure–saturation relation was parameterized. However, for more realistic initial geometries of the 3D samples, while the general patterns of increasing capillary pressure may be observed, such a parameterization was not possible using only porosity or porosity reduction, likely due to the much higher variability in the pore-scale distribution of the precipitates between the experiments. Likely, additional parameters other than porosity will need to be considered to accurately describe the effects of induced carbonate precipitation on the capillary pressure–saturation relation of porous media.

Abstract

Geochemical processes in subsurface reservoirs affected by microbial activity change the material properties of porous media. This is a complex biogeochemical process in subsurface reservoirs that currently contains strong conceptual uncertainty. This means, several modeling approaches describing the biogeochemical process are plausible and modelers face the uncertainty of choosing the most appropriate one. The considered models differ in the underlying hypotheses about the process structure. Once observation data become available, a rigorous Bayesian model selection accompanied by a Bayesian model justifiability analysis could be employed to choose the most appropriate model, i.e. the one that describes the underlying physical processes best in the light of the available data. However, biogeochemical modeling is computationally very demanding because it conceptualizes different phases, biomass dynamics, geochemistry, precipitation and dissolution in porous media. Therefore, the Bayesian framework cannot be based directly on the full computational models as this would require too many expensive model evaluations. To circumvent this problem, we suggest to perform both Bayesian model selection and justifiability analysis after constructing surrogates for the competing biogeochemical models. Here, we will use the arbitrary polynomial chaos expansion. Considering that surrogate representations are only approximations of the analyzed original models, we account for the approximation error in the Bayesian analysis by introducing novel correction factors for the resulting model weights. Thereby, we extend the Bayesian model justifiability analysis and assess model similarities for computationally expensive models. We demonstrate the method on a representative scenario for microbially induced calcite precipitation in a porous medium. Our extension of the justifiability analysis provides a suitable approach for the comparison of computationally demanding models and gives an insight on the necessary amount of data for a reliable model performance.

Abstract

Enzymatically induced calcite precipitation (EICP) is an engineering technology that allows for targeted reduction of porosity in a porous medium by precipitation of calcium carbonates. This might be employed for reducing permeability in order to seal flow paths or for soil stabilization. This study investigates the growth of calcium-carbonate crystals in a micro-fluidic EICP setup and relies on experimental results of precipitation observed over time and under flow-through conditions in a setup of four pore bodies connected by pore throats. A phase-field approach to model the growth of crystal aggregates is presented, and the corresponding simulation results are compared to the available experimental observations. We discuss the model's capability to reproduce the direction and volume of crystal growth. The mechanisms that dominate crystal growth are complex depending on the local flow field as well as on concentrations of solutes. We have good agreement between experimental data and model results. In particular, we observe that crystal aggregates prefer to grow in upstream flow direction and toward the center of the flow channels, where the volume growth rate is also higher due to better supply.