Modification of the petrophysical properties of artificially consolidated core samples with supercritical CO2 treatment

Abstract

During the evaluation of certain hydrocarbon fields, for the petroleum engineering tests, natural rock core samples are needed. If there is a shortage of such samples, preparation and development of artificially consolidated rock samples become necessary. These samples can be made of different compositions and by using different technologies. The used model materials can play a role in the exploitation of petroleum and natural gas, and they can also promote the development, selection or application of secondary or tertiary technologies in conventional and non-conventional reservoirs. The process developed and used by us makes it available to construct these rock samples from different raw materials, under different pressure and temperature conditions and by using different post-treatment methods. In this paper, the changes of petrophysical parameters (porosity, permeability) originating from a CO₂-rich environment ensured by a post-treatment (cure) were analyzed.

The authors proposed further investigations of additional important parameters – zeta-potential, wettability – which could alter during different preparation methods of artificially consolidated rock samples, and by this, they could also enhance the research of geological storage of CO₂ and EOR technologies.