RESEARCH PROJECTS

DISSOLUTION MASS TRANSFER OF CAPILLARY TRAPPING

3D tomographic imaging of capillary trapping dissolution process

Dissolution mass transfer of capillary trapping occurs in various hydro-geology applications, such as groundwater contamination, groundwater in-situ decontamination, and geological carbon sequestration. In this process, a fluid, which can be liquid, gas, or supercritical state, is trapped and immobilized in porous media. Then, another fluid, usually water, passes by, inducing dissolution mass transfer from the capillary trapping to the flowing phase. The rate of dissolution mass transfer is important in assessing the degree of groundwater contamination, the effectiveness of nutrient transport in groundwater remediation, and dissolution trapping in geological carbon sequestration.

Related publications

7. Patmonoaji, A.*, Tahta, M.A., Tuasikal, J.A., She, Y., Hu, Y., Suekane, T. Dissolution mass transfer of trapped gases in porous media: A correlation of Sherwood, Reynolds, and Schmidt numbers, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 205, 123860, 2023.

6. Patmonoaji, A.*, Hu, Y., Nasir, M., Zhang, C., Suekane, T. Effects of Dissolution Fingering on Mass Transfer Rate in Three-Dimensional Porous Media, Water Resources Research, 57, 10, 2021.

5. Patmonoaji, A.*, Nasir, M., Mahardika, M.A., She, Y., Suekane, T. A unique dissolution behavior of trapped CO2 into flowing water inside a porous medium compared with other gases, Journal of the Mining and Materials Processing Institute of Japan, 137 (9), 91–97 2021.

4. Patmonoaji, A.*, Hu, Y., Zhang, C. & Suekane, T. Dissolution mass transfer of trapped phase in porous media. Book chapter in: Porous Fluids - Advances in Fluid Flow and Transport phenomena in Porous Media, IntechOpen, 2021.

3. Hu, Y., Zhang, C., Patmonoaji, A.*, She, Y., Matsushita, S., Suekane, T. Pore-scale investigation of wettability impact on residual nonaqueous phase liquid dissolution in natural porous media. Science of the Total Environment, 787, 147406, 2021.

2. Hu, Y., Patmonoaji, A.*, Xu, H., Kaito, K., Matsushita, S., Suekane, T. Pore-scale investigation on nonaqueous phase liquid dissolution and mass transfer in 2D and 3D porous media. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 167, 120901, 2021.

1. Patmonoaji, A.* & Suekane, T. Investigation of CO2 dissolution via mass transfer inside a porous medium. Advances in Water Resources, 110, 97–106, 2017.

CAPILLARY TRAPPING CHARACTERIZATION

After fluid displacement in porous media (either imbibition or drainage), some displaced fluid remains in the porous media in the form of capillary trapping, which is difficult to be displaced. In the application of groundwater contamination, this capillary trapping will become the prolonged contamination source, whereas in petroleum, it is necessary to push out this capillary trapping through enhanced oil recovery for petroleum production. Therefore, characterizing this capillary trapping is important in designing appropriate technique for the applications.

Related publications

3D tomographic imaging of (left) capillary trapping and (right) identified clusters

2. Hu, Y.*, She, Y., Patmonoaji, A., Zhang, C., Suekane, T. Effect of capillary number on morphological characterizations of trapped gas bubbles: Study by using micro-tomography. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 163, 120508, 2020.

1. Patmonoaji, A.*, Tsuji, K., Muharrik, M., Suekane, T. Micro-tomographic analyses of specific interfacial area inside unconsolidated porous media with differing particle characteristics from microscopic to macroscopic scale. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 532, 614–621, 2018.

FLUID DISPLACEMENT

3D tomographic imaging of (left) capillary fingering and (right) viscous fingering

The fluid displacement in porous media is mainly controlled by the viscosity ratio between the fluids and the capilary number. Mainly, the displacement patterns can be categorized into three: viscous fingering, capillary fingering, and stable displacement. These types of patterns will influence the displacement sweep efficiency that is very important in various hydro-geology and industrial applications..

Related publications

4. Hu, Y.*, Patmonoaji, A., Zhang, C., Suekane, T. Experimental study on the displacement patterns and the phase diagram of immiscible fluid displacement in three-dimensional porous media. Advances in Water Resources, 140, 103584, 2020.

3. Patmonoaji, A.*, Muharrik, M., Hu, Y., Zhang, C., Suekane, T. Three-dimensional fingering structures in immiscible flow at the crossover from viscous to capillary fingering. International Journal of Multiphase Flow, 122, 103147, 2020.

2. Patmonoaji, A.*, Zhang, Y., Xue, Z., Park, H., Suekane, T. Experimental and numerical simulation of supercritical CO 2 microbubble injection into a brine-saturated porous medium. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 91, 102830, 2019.

1. Muharrik, M.*, Suekane, T., Patmonoaji, A. Effect of buoyancy on fingering growth activity in immiscible two-phase flow displacements. Journal Fluid Science Technology, 13, 2018.

POROUS MEDIA CHARACTERIZATION

In porous media, porous medium characteristics influence various flow processes. In the case of a single fluid flow, its characteristics define the permeability and tortuosity. For multiphase flow, its characteristics affect capillary trapping, and since capillary trapping mainly occurs inside the pores, the size and shape of the pores determine them. These characteristics define the stability of the trapped phase and its exposure to the surrounding fluid. Stability governs the capillary trapping displacement, and exposure influences the mass transfer of the capillary trapping.

Related publications

1. Patmonoaji, A.*, Tsuji, K., Suekane, T. Pore-throat characterization of unconsolidated porous media using watershed-segmentation algorithm. Powder Technology, 362, 635–644, 2020.

REACTIVE FLOW

There are various methods of to control displacement efficiency. One of the most promising method is reacting flow, which is the combination between chemical reaction and fluid displacement. The chemical reaction can be designed to generate surfactant, gel, or viscosity enhancing properties. Therefore, by carefully designed the reaction, the displacement sweep efficiency can be controlled.

Improving contaminant sweeping by using polymer with chemical reaction

Front dominated fingering

Dual fingering

Rear dominated fingering

Stable

Related publications

6. Patmonoaji, A.*, Nagatsu, Y., Mishra, M. Instability dynamics of viscous fingering interaction on dual displacement fronts, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 995, A5 (2024).

5. Wang, W. *, Zhang, C., Patmonoaji, A., Hu, Y., Matsushita, S., Suekane, T., Nagatsu, Y. Effect of gas generation by chemical reaction on viscous fingering in a Hele-Shaw cell, Physics of Fluids, 33, 9, 093104, 2021.

4. Mahardika, M.A.*, She, Y., Shori, F., Patmonoaji, A., Matsushita, S., Suekane, T., Nagatsu, Y. Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery by Calcium Hydroxide Flooding with the Production of Viscoelastic Materials: Study with 3-D X-Ray Tomography and 2-D Glass Micromodels, Energy & Fuels, 35, 14, 11210–11222, 2021.

3. She, Y.*, Zhang, C., Mahardika, M.A., Patmonoaji, A., Hu, Y., Matsushita, S., Suekane, T. Pore-scale study of in-situ surfactant flooding with strong oil emulsification in sandstone based on X-ray microtomography. Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 98, 247–261, 2021.

2. She, Y.*, Mahardika, M.A., Hu, Y., Patmonoaji, A., Matsushita, S., Suekane, T., Nagatsu, Y. Three-dimensional visualization of the alkaline flooding process with in-situ emulsification for oil recovery in porous media. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 202, 108519, 2021.

1. Sin, S.*, Suekane, T., Nagatsu, Y., Patmonoaji, A. Three-dimensional visualization of viscous fingering for non-Newtonian fluids with chemical reactions that change viscosity. Physical Review Fluids 4, 2–12, 2019.

MULTIPHASE FLOW MEASUREMENT IN PIPE

Multi-phase flow in pipe occurs in various applications, such as chemical industries, nuclear reactors safety measure, and fluid transport in piping. One of the challenging problem is the measurement of multi-phase flow in pipe because of the opaqueness of the pipe and the requirement for high temporal and spatial resolutions.

Related publications

1. Banowski, M.*, Patmonoaji, A., Lucas, D., Hampel, U. A novel fuzzy-logic based method for determination of individual bubble velocity and size from dual-plane ultrafast X-ray tomography data of two-phase flow. International Journal of Multiphase Flow, 96, 144–160, 2017.

(a) Ultrafast X-ray setup schematic, (b) tomography results, and (c) bubble velocity field.

Saline water mixing energy conversion

A huge amount of energy is spontaneously released upon mixing fresh and saline waters. About 2 kJ of energy is released by mixing a controlled volume of 1 L of fresh water with an equal amount of seawater. It is estimated that an amount of 2 TW of power can be generated throughout the world from this energy source. Capacitive energy extraction based on double-layer expansion (CDLE), which is based on the formation of electric double layer (EDL). These methods are used to effectively generate electrical energy from the mixing solution, which are based on the change of electrical properties of electrode electrolyte interface owing to salinity difference.

Related publications

1. Nasir, M.*, Nakanishi, Y., Patmonoaji, A., Suekane, T. Effects of porous electrode pore size and operating flow rate on the energy production of capacitive energy extraction. Renewable Energy, 155, 278–285, 2020.