Investigating residual trapping in CO2 storage in saline aquifers – application of a 2D glass model, and image analysis

Two-dimensional glass model experiments are used to investigate the residual trapping mechanism of CO2 stored in saline aquifers. For this purpose, two proxy fluids are chosen to simulate the CO2-brine behavior under reservoir conditions. The first set of experiments is carried out by flooding n-heptane in a mixture of glycerol and water inside a glass bead porous media. Fluids and porous materials are designed so that the dimensionless groups are in the range of real storage sites. Another set of proxy fluid consists of dodecane and a different mixture of glycerol and water, representing the second wettability condition for the system. The size of the glass beads chosen was fine (70–110 μm) in order to investigate residual trapping phenomena. For each set, after complete drainage process, an imbibition process is performed and in each time step, images are taken from the phenomena. The images are processed using a red, green, blue (RGB) color concept using a Matlab code that was developed for this study. By using this process, it is possible to measure the residual trapping of CO2 proxy fluid for each test and to determine the saturation profile in the model. Tests are carried out at various imbibition and drainage rates to study the effect of the rate on the results. Fine-scale numerical simulation models are constructed for comparison with experimental results. Good agreement is obtained between the simulation results and the image processing estimations, as well as the readings from the material balances during the experiments. This study could provide a framework for modeling different reservoir conditions for residual trapping mechanism and the impact of different parameters in future studies.