Application of multicomponent sorption for diffusive transport in numerical simulation of tight reservoirs

Abstract

One of the main challenges in modeling compositional transport in tight formations is to include the complex interaction of chemical species with rock surfaces. Such interactions result in compositional variations near the surfaces, which can significantly affect the compositional diffusive transport through tight pores.This paper presents the application of the Multicomponent Potential Theory of Adsorption (MPTA) for the fluid compositions in the central and near-wall sorbed layers subject to a wall chemical potential. The two-layer approximation of MPTA is implemented in the diffusive transport simulation that computes the mass transfer driven by fugacity gradient based on the dusty gas model for the central and sorbed layers of pores. This simulator uses a partially implicit formulation to solve the multiphase multicomponent mass transfer equations including the sorbed layer.The main novelty of this paper lies in the detailed analysis of the interplay between fluid components and rock surfaces, which became possible with the two-layer MPTA coupled with multicomponent diffusion. The diffusion simulation for a ternary case of methane, n-butane, and n-decane with the approximate MPTA shows that the sorption and capillary pressure can cause the compositional segregation between the central and sorbed layers. The segregation enhances the rates of methane injection and n-decane production in their counter-current diffusion. Methane (the lightest) is transported deep into the reservoir by diffusing through the central layer while n-decane (the heaviest) is diffused primarily through the sorbed layer. n-Butane (the intermediate) does not show preferential partitioning into either layer, resulting in relatively inefficient transport. In the absence of sorption and capillary pressure, the countercurrent diffusion occurs between methane (the lightest) and n-butane (the intermediate) while n-decane (the heaviest) remains nearly immobile. That is, whether the simulation considers the surface-fluid interactions can substantially affect the compositional transport (e.g., produced fluid composition) through tight porous media.The multicomponent Langmuir model is often used for computing the sorbed excess in micropores. However, results show that the Langmuir model becomes physically inconsistent at high pressures because it predicts a monotonically increasing function of pressure. The new approach developed in this research is sufficiently flexible and reasonably accurate for modeling multicomponent sorption at high pressures.