Abstract
Fluid-fluid interfacial area plays an important role for mass- and energy-transfer processes across the interface which is relevant in several hydrogeological and engineering applications, e.g. enhanced oil-gas recovery, CO2 storage in geological formations, unconventional geothermal systems, contaminant removal, etc. Kinetic interface sensitive tracers were designed to determine the size of the interface between two fluids by undergoing hydrolysis at the fluid-fluid interface. This study investigates by means of numerical modelling the influence of heterogeneity on the KIS tracer breakthrough curves in six idealized scenarios (S1-S6). It is an extension of the previous work conducted in “one-dimensional” column experiments by Tatomir et al. (2018) [1]. The changes in interfacial area are created by inclusion of heterogeneities at the Darcy-scale. The results show that KIS tracers can be used in two-dimensional experimental setup and can provide information about the size and dynamic evolution of interfacial area. Therefore, this is a first step for the dimensioning of an experimental flume.
Highlights
Developing real-time monitoring techniques able to capture the movement of fluids in porous media is critically important [2], [3]
The aim of the current study is to investigate by means of numerical modelling the non-wetting phase plume development together with the KIS tracer transport in a two-dimensional heterogenous porous media system
We investigate six scenarios of an idealized heterogeneous porous medium consisting of a coarse sand with fine sand inclusions (Fig. 2)
Summary
Developing real-time monitoring techniques able to capture the movement of fluids in porous media is critically important [2], [3]. The FIFA can be determined in controlled laboratory conditions by performing microtomographic experiments on millimeter- or centimeter-size samples [10]–[13]. Another laboratory technique is applying tracer methods [14]–[16]. Both the μCT- and tracer experiments are conducted at equilibrium In contrast to these techniques, KIS tracers were developed by [17] to be applied in dynamic flow in porous media systems. [9] showed for the first time the application of these tracers in a controlled dynamic experiment and proposed a method for the determination of the specific IFA Both studies use n-octane, a non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL), which is an analogue for the supercritical CO2
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