Magnetic Resonance Imaging of CO2/Water Two Phase Flow in Porous Media

AbstractMeasurement of CO2/water two phase fluids flow in the porous media under sequestration conditions by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technique was studied in this paper. The porous media was formed from a packed bed of glass beads. A spin echo sequence was used to measure the distribution of CO2 and water after the CO2 was injected into the porous media containing water. The displacement front was different with the packed beds. For displacement experiments in BZ-02 and BZ-2, three stages were obtained. The CO2 channeling or fingering phenomena were obviously found. Also breakthrough time was different in BZ-02 and BZ-2. The final water residual saturation depended on permeability. The larger the permeability was, the wider the front is. The distribution of CO2 was uniform in the packed beds with larger glass beads. Breakthrough occurred early. In other packed bed, the breakthrough occurred latter. The front was affected by pore porosity and permeability. The residual saturation was calculated from the intensity images. The residual saturation was inverse proportion to larger permeability, then direct proportion to flow rate