InterPore2023

Microfluidic and numerical investigation of anisotropic permeability alteration during biomineralization in porous media

24 May 2023, 10:00

15m

Oral Presentation (MS05) Biochemical processes and biofilms in porous media MS05

Speaker

Felix Weinhardt (Institute of Applied Mechanics, University of Stuttgart)

Description

Biomineralization, e.g. enzymatically (or microbially) induced calcium carbonate precipitation (EICP) is a promising geo-engineering method with the potential, for example, to seal leakage pathways in the subsurface or to stabilize soils. It is associated with an alteration of porosity and, consequently, permeability. A major source of uncertainty in modelling EICP is in the quantitative description of permeability alteration due to precipitation, based on commonly applied porosity-permeability relations [1]. To improve these relations for REV-scale models, we investigate the effect of EICP on hydraulic properties in microfluidic experiments by measuring the pressure drop to calculate the permeability and by observing the pore-space alterations with optical microscopy. The experimental setup and procedure are described in [2]. The results of the presented study show that preferential flow paths can form under continuous flow conditions and ongoing precipitation [3]. Our aim is to analyze this effect of strong local inhomogeneity for REV-scale permeability. We expect to quantify this as anisotropy also in pore-scale numerical investigations based on the images obtained from optical microscopy.

References

[1] Hommel, J., Coltman, E., Class, H. (2018). Porosity-Permeability Relations for Evolving Pore Space: A Review with a Focus on (Bio-)geochemically Altered Porous Media. Transport in Porous Media, 124 (2), 589-629.
[2] Weinhardt, F., Class, H., Dastjerdi, S. V., Karadimitriou, N., Lee, D., & Steeb, H. (2021). Experimental Methods and Imaging for Enzymatically Induced Calcite Precipitation in a microfluidic cell. Water Resources Research, 57, e2020WR029361.
[3] Weinhardt, F., Deng, J., Hommel, J., Vahid Dastjerdi, S., Gerlach, R., Steeb, H., & Class, H. (2022). Spatiotemporal Distribution of Precipitates and Mineral Phase Transition During Biomineralization Affect Porosity–Permeability Relationships. Transport in Porous Media, 143(2), 527--549.