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[2008/10/08 12:00 AM]
Q-OGT First Technology Symposium, London, September 18, 2008
Inspired by the Founders of Quorum, ongoing efforts will be made to uncover the leading research at world class universities, pertinent to the oil and gas technology sector.
The first technical symposium held in London on the 18th of September 2008 reflects the leading research now being undertaken at Imperial College London.
Background
Flow in porous media is critical in many industries, for example hydrocarbon extraction and groundwater flow (in particular remediation of pollution or safe storage of nuclear waste) but also to many other industrial processes (e.g. catalysis, fluidized beds, filtration, food and drugs processing and so on).
The understanding of flow behaviour can be broken into several issues, none of which is currently resolved satisfactorily. One issue concerns a useful characterisation of the porous medium.
Porosity and Permeability
The ultimate aim of any characterisation method in this context is to isolate a small number of descriptors that can be used in the analysis of flow properties without the need to go into a detailed description of the entire porous microstructure.
Another issue is the determination of the permeability to flow given those descriptors. While the two problems are technically separate, they are clearly related. A characterisation scheme would only be good if it provides descriptors that are useful for a particular analysis and if it is useful for the study of permeability in a wide range of microstructures.
The Problem
In most applications standard empirical constitutive relations (Darcy's Law ) are used to relate flow rates to applied pressures and the fluid content of the porous medium. However, these relations are not derived explicitly from the structure on the porescale and take no account of it.
The problem then is that it is impossible to predict how the flow processes may change for different pore structures.
By fully understanding the impact of microstructure on flow Blumenfeld expects to be able to determine the relationships between the various macroscopic transport properties.
Potentially, this has enormous industrial importance in that permeability can be difficult to measure directly in situ (for example down a well in an oil field) .
However, other macroscopic characteristics, such as electrical conductivity and acoustic impedance, similarly depend on the microstructure, and indirect measurements of microstructure, through electrical conductivity for example, are relatively straightforward.
To date, methods to relate the microstructure to macroscopic transport properties are phenomenological in that there is no systematic way that starts from a microstructural description and derives the permeability or the electric conductivity.
The Solution
It is well accepted in the field that the current phenomenological and empirical methods need to be replaced by a more predictive science. In particular, the ability to relate these two measurements (permeability and electric conductivity) from first principles would lead to a significant leap in technology.
The presentations by Dr Blumenfeld and Dr. Blunt represent significant progress in the development of such predictive science.
Dr. Laforces presentation addresses the very latest breakthroughs in Co2 capture and storage.
Future Symposiums
It is intended to provide ongoing symposiums reflecting the finest talents and research within the jurisdictions of each venue
Click the following link(s) to view presentation material:-
1) Microstructural characterization of porous media and systematic derivation of transport properties
2) Design of CO2 storage in aquifers and oil reservoirs
3) Enhanced Reservoir Characterization: Monitoring and Control in Intelligent wells
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