Pore-scale imaging with measurement of relative permeability and capillary pressure on the same reservoir sandstone sample under water-wet and mixed-wet conditions

Using micro-CT imaging and differential pressure measurements, we design a comparative study in which we simultaneously measure relative permeability and capillary pressure on the same reservoir sandstone sample under water-wet and mixed-wet conditions during steady-state waterflooding experiments. This allows us to isolate the impact of wettability on a pore-by-pore basis and its effect on the macroscopic parameters, capillary pressure and relative permeability, while keeping the pore-space geometry unchanged. First, oil and brine were injected through a water-wet reservoir sandstone sample at a fixed total flow rate, but in a sequence of increasing brine fractional flows with micro-CT scans of the fluid phases taken in each step. Then the sample was brought back to initial water saturation and the surface wettability of the sample was altered after prolonged contact with crude oil and the same measurement procedure was repeated on the altered-wettability sample which we call mixed-wet. Geometric contact angles were measured, which discriminated the water-wet and mixed-wet cases with average values of 75 degrees and 89 degrees respectively. Additionally, an energy balance was used to determine the effective contact angles for displacement which indicated that a higher advancing contact angle of 116 degrees was needed to displace oil in the mixed-wet case. For the water-wet experiment the filling sequence was pore-size dependent, with a strong correlation between pore size and oil occupancy. However, in the mixed-wet experiment the principal determinant of the filling sequence was the wettability rather than the pore size, and there was no correlation between pore size and the residual oil occupancy. The oil-water interfacial area had a larger maximum in the mixed-wet case which was supported by the observation of sheet or saddle-like menisci shapes present throughout the sample volume that impede the flow. These shapes were quantified by much larger negative Gaussian curvature which indicated better connectivity of the phases, consistent with the lower residual oil saturation. Mean curvature and associated capillary pressure were positive for the water-wet case but decreased to a negative value for the mixed-wet case pointing to forced displacement from oil-wet pores. This analysis explained why the relative permeabilities for the mixed-wet case were lower than for the water-wet case for the same fractional flow.