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Effect of Surface Wettability on Immiscible Displacement in a Microfluidic Porous Media

Author

Listed:
  • Jorge Avendaño

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22451-900, Brazil)

  • Nicolle Lima

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22451-900, Brazil)

  • Antonio Quevedo

    (Engineering Faculty, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro 76010, Mexico
    Present address: Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua, Jiutepec, Morelos 62550, Mexico.)

  • Marcio Carvalho

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22451-900, Brazil)

Abstract

Wettability has a dramatic impact on fluid displacement in porous media. The pore level physics of one liquid being displaced by another is a strong function of the wetting characteristics of the channel walls. However, the quantification of the effect is still not clear. Conflicting data have shown that in some oil displacement experiments in rocks, the volume of trapped oil falls as the porous media becomes less water-wet, while in some microfluidic experiments the volume of residual oil is higher in oil-wet media. The reasons for this discrepancy are not fully understood. In this study, we analyzed oil displacement by water injection in two microfluidic porous media with different wettability characteristics that had capillaries with constrictions. The resulting oil ganglia size distribution at the end of water injection was quantified by image processing. The results show that in the oil-wet porous media, the displacement front was more uniform and the final volume of remaining oil was smaller, with a much smaller number of large oil ganglia and a larger number of small oil ganglia, when compared to the water-wet media.

Suggested Citation

  • Jorge Avendaño & Nicolle Lima & Antonio Quevedo & Marcio Carvalho, 2019. "Effect of Surface Wettability on Immiscible Displacement in a Microfluidic Porous Media," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-14, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:4:p:664-:d:207099
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    Cited by:

    1. Wenbo Gong & Jinhui Liu, 2022. "Effect of Wettability Heterogeneity on Water-Gas Two-Phase Displacement Behavior in a Complex Pore Structure by Phase-Field Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-17, October.

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