Permeability dependence of streaming potential coefficient in porous media

Abstract

In theory, the streaming potential coefficient depends not only on the zeta potential but also on the permeability of the rocks that partially determines the surface conductivity of the rocks. However, in practice, it is hard to show the permeability dependence of streaming potential coefficients because of the variation of zeta potential from sample to sample. To study permeability dependence of streaming potential, including the effects of the variation of the zeta potential and surface conductance due to the difference in mineral compositions between samples, we perform measurements on 12 consolidated samples, including natural and artificial samples saturated with 7 different NaCl solutions to determine the streaming potential coefficients. The results have shown that the streaming potential coefficients strongly depend on the permeability of the samples for low fluid conductivity. When the fluid conductivity is larger than than 0.50 S/m for the natural samples or 0.25 S/m for the artificial ceramic samples, the streaming potential coefficient is independent of permeability. This behavior is quantitatively explained by a theoretical model.