Activated desorption at heterogeneous interfaces and long-time kinetics of hydrocarbon recovery from nanoporous media

Thomas Lee, Lydéric Bocquet () and Benoit Coasne ()
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Thomas Lee: MultiScale Materials Science for Energy and Environment, Joint CNRS-MIT Laboratory, UMI CNRS 3466, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lydéric Bocquet: MultiScale Materials Science for Energy and Environment, Joint CNRS-MIT Laboratory, UMI CNRS 3466, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Benoit Coasne: MultiScale Materials Science for Energy and Environment, Joint CNRS-MIT Laboratory, UMI CNRS 3466, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Hydrocarbon recovery from unconventional reservoirs (shale gas) is debated due to its environmental impact and uncertainties on its predictability. But a lack of scientific knowledge impedes the proposal of reliable alternatives. The requirement of hydrofracking, fast recovery decay and ultra-low permeability—inherent to their nanoporosity—are specificities of these reservoirs, which challenge existing frameworks. Here we use molecular simulation and statistical models to show that recovery is hampered by interfacial effects at the wet kerogen surface. Recovery is shown to be thermally activated with an energy barrier modelled from the interface wetting properties. We build a statistical model of the recovery kinetics with a two-regime decline that is consistent with published data: a short time decay, consistent with Darcy description, followed by a fast algebraic decay resulting from increasingly unreachable energy barriers. Replacing water by CO2 or propane eliminates the barriers, therefore raising hopes for clean/efficient recovery.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11890

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