Pore scale CFD simulation of supercritical carbon dioxide drainage process in porous media saturated with water

ABSTRACT

During the geological carbon sequestration, the short-term behavior of CO₂ is controlled mainly by two-phase flow of supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO₂) and water in saline aquifers. A better understanding of ScCO₂-water two-phase flow in the porous media under the geological conditions will improve predictions of the long-term CO₂ storage reliability. In this paper, the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation method was used to study the flow and distribution of ScCO₂ and water in the porous media at the pore scale. It was found that as the contact angle decreases and the surface tension increases, the relative permeability of water increases and the relative permeability of carbon dioxide decreases. As the viscosity ratio increases, the relative permeability of carbon dioxide increases, but the relative permeability of water does not change significantly.

KEYWORDS:

• CO₂ geological storage
• computational fluid dynamic simulation
• relative permeability
• pore scale
• porous media

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge support by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant 2016YFB0600804) and State Key Laboratory of Shale Oil and Gas Enrichment Mechanisms and Effective Development.