Presentation materials
Real-rock microfluidics have enabled elucidation of in situ fluid-rock interactions at the fundamental scales of length and time (~ μm, ms). These platforms are categorized broadly into three classes: those constructed from rock material (e.g., calcite, shale) that are pressure-constrained by the mechanics of the crystal substrate, those deposited with mineral particulates (e.g., kaolinite,...
Understanding the transport and deposition of colloidal particles in confined environments is crucial for optimizing natural and engineered systems, such as groundwater remediation and filtration technologies. This study adopts a pore-scale approach, combining microfluidic devices that mimic rock structures with pore-scale flow simulations to investigate clogging mechanisms, uncovering a...
Groundwater pollutants that become trapped in low-permeable clay lenses are difficult to remediate using conventional pump-and-treat methods. Water flows preferentially through more permeable sandy layers leaving behind residual contamination in clay lenses that then slowly leaches out over time creating a long-term contamination problem. An alternative approach to pumping contaminants above...
Most of the world’s drinking water supply comes from groundwater aquifers. These sources, however, are susceptible to contamination (hydrocarbon, chlorinated solvents, nitrates...). Environmental engineering applications foreseen the usage of charged colloidal particles for groundwater remediation or for sealing damaged geological confinement barriers. However, the injection of colloidal...
Enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) is a promising biogeochemical process for enhancing soil stability, mitigating subsurface permeability, and remediating environmental contaminants. Despite its growing applications, the pore-scale dynamics of EICP - particularly the associated changes in pore structure and flow velocity - remain poorly understood. This knowledge gap hinders the...
This study initially undertakes a detailed experimental two-dimensional analysis of vector fields in both structured and random porous media configurations. Structured media are examined at porosities of 55%, 75%, and 85%, while random media are analysed at 75% porosity. As shown in Figure 1, both the axial and transverse velocity fields are significantly influenced by the geometry of the...
Mixing and reaction in porous and fractured media govern a wide range of natural and engineering processes, including carbon mineralization, cave formation, geothermal energy production, contaminant transport, and microfluidics. Subsurface systems often feature fractures and conduits that serve as highways for fluid flow. Typical flow velocities in these systems are high enough to induce...
Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS) has gained significant attention recently as an efficient means of storing green energy. The unique challenges of hydrogen, such as its low ambient density (Muhammed et al., 2022) and its high flammability with atmospheric oxygen across a wide concentration range (Dagdougui et al., 2018) necessitates the use of deep geological formations. Among these,...
Naturally fractured reservoirs contribute approximately 25–30% of global oil production. The presence of fractures, vugs, and interconnected channels introduces complexities in fluid flow within rocks, either by creating preferential pathways or acting as barriers (1). This study seeks to advance the understanding of fluid behavior in fractured rocks and their associated characteristics. To...
Modeling and characterizing gas-wall interactions at the atomic scale are crucial for understanding transport behavior in micro- and nanopores and for accurately simulating gas flows in porous materials. It is well known that gas displacement in extremely tight channels is complex and significantly influenced by adsorption/desorption physics and surface diffusion mechanisms at the boundary...
In this study, we conducted a series of microfluidic experiments using Stereolithography (SLA) 3D-printed chips designed to replicate the pore geometry of vesicular basalts and investigate a scaled version of in-situ supercritical CO₂ (sc-CO₂)/water/basalt multiphase flow dynamics under room conditions and a large parameter space. Multiphase flow phase distributions will impact scCO2...
Dissolved gases in soil pores play a crucial role in soil pollutant transport, subsurface carbon sequestration, and soil greenhouse gas emissions. The transport of dissolved gases interacts with trapped soil air. Trapped air in soil impedes the transport of dissolved gases in porous media. Meanwhile, the exchange of dissolved gases between liquid and gas phases alters bubble volume and surface...
