Elucidating the displacement dynamics with a partially miscible system for application for CO2 sequestration and enhanced oil recovery

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K20402
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0301:Mechanics of materials, production engineering, design engineering, fluid engineering, thermal engineering, mechanical dynamics, robotics, aerospace engineering, marine and maritime engineering, and related fields
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
• Principal Investigator: Suzuki Ryuta 東京農工大学, 学内共同利用施設等, 特任助教 (00965692)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-08-31 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 界面流体力学 / 相分離 / 部分混和系 / Viscous fingering / 多孔質媒質

Outline of Final Research Achievements

An experimental system that mimics a porous medium for actual enhanced oil recovery and CO2 storage was created, and flow experiments of the partially miscible system were conducted. As a result, it was found that the degree of partial miscibility, in other words, the rate (degree) of phase separation, affects the oil recovery and/or CO2 storage efficiency. Furthermore, the simulation results not only enabled us to examine the detailed conditions, but also brought us closer to elucidating the mechanism of the part of the system that had been observed experimentally but had been difficult to consider. In other words, we were able to supplement the basic part of the formation of the partially miscible system by experiments and simulations. We have also conducted derivative studies using various experiments and simulations, and were able to obtain good results.

Free Research Field

流体工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本成果は石油をさらに多く回収することだけでなく、地球温暖化の原因の一つとされているCO2を石油を回収した部分に貯蔵することを目指した研究である。その基礎部分として、石油が存在する地下深くでは高温・高圧な条件になり、そこではCO2は液体のようになり、石油やCO2はどのように流れるのかを研究した。さらに、地下深くでの流れの条件を実験室で再現し、そうした液体（部分混和系）の回収率や貯蔵率は何に起因するのかを探索した。その結果、CO2と石油や水は地下では少し混ざり合うが、その混ざり合いやすさが効率に影響することがわかった。さらにシミュレーションでどうしてそうなるのかを検討している。