Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.59, No.46, 20527-20538, 2020
Comprehensive Model for Oil Transport Behavior in Nanopores: Interactions between Oil and Pore Surface
A clear knowledge of fluid flow at the nanoscale will greatly contribute to recovery of unconventional oil/gas reservoirs. The distinction of nanoconfined fluid flow behavior with that of the bulk phase stems from strong fluid-surface interactions, which favor the emergence of slip phenomenon as well as spatial variation of viscosity and further affects transport capacity. However, elaboration of the above essential relationship remains challenging nowadays. Oil possesses a complex molecular structure and therefore leads to fruitful technical content regarding oil-surface interplay, posing a huge resistance to gaining a good understanding. Furthermore, the physical properties of tight oil reservoirs exhibit a wide variation range, including rock wettability, pore dimensions, and temperature, and their influences on oil transport are fascinating for in-depth investigation. The aim of this research is to establish a physics fully coupled model for nanoconfined oil transport behavior, which is capable of quantifying the contribution of each influential factor. The excellent agreement against the collected data from published literature claims the reliability of the proposed model. Results indicate the following: (i) A wide pore size can effectively suppress the nanoscale-induced influence on the oil flow behavior, including slip boundary and spatial viscosity variation features. (ii) The velocity distribution characteristic exhibits a plug-like shape as a result of a relatively large slip length by tuning surface wettability. (iii) Slip length shows a negative correlation with increasing temperature, and the feasibility of thermal recovery for tight oil reservoirs is not beneficial compared with that applied in conventional heavy oil reservoirs.