Wettability and capillary behavior in a CO2–oil–solid system under near-miscible conditions: A pore-scale study

Abstract

Carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) is an important means of improving oil recovery while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. However, it is still challenging to determine the pore-scale flow characteristics and interfacial interaction parameters, such as the wettability, interfacial curvature, and capillary pressure, under near-miscible conditions. In this study, X-ray microtomography (micro-CT) was used to determine the morphology of gas and oil phases and characterize the in-situ wettability under near-miscible conditions. The mean contact angle increased from 66.99° to 72.5° as the injected CO2 pore volume (PV) increased from 5.5 PV to 33.1 PV. The wettability was locally altered as the local contact angle changed from 44.14° to 107.27° because of preferential adsorption of CO2 molecules over oil molecules on solid surfaces. The mixed-wet condition was reflected by local contact angles both below and above 90°, and the capillary pressure exhibited a tower-shaped distribution with a peak value around zero, which promoted oil recovery. At the end of the displacement process, the interfaces were pushed toward the corners by a reduction in the capillary pressure, resulting in interface recession and a reduction in CO2 clusters. Pore occupancy studies showed that under near-miscible conditions, gas usually occupies large pores and oil resides in pores of varying sizes, which can result in optimal recovery.