Pore-scale study of three-phase reactive transport processes in porous media

Abstract

Coupled three-phase flow and reactive transport processes are widely encountered in many scientific and engineering problems. In the present study, a pore-scale model based on the lattice Boltzmann method is developed to simulate coupled three-phase flow and reactive transport processes. The model is validated by contact angle test of droplets on a curved surface and confined reactive mass transport in a three-phase system. The pore-scale model validated is then employed to study the three-phase reactive transport in channels and porous media. The evolution of the three-phase distribution, the concentration field, and the contact line length are discussed in detail. For a two-channel structure, the result shows that as the viscosity ratio increases, the phase with higher viscosity is more difficult to be displaced. Moreover, as the surface tension force between two certain phases increases, the third phase tends to form a film between the two phases, thus suppressing the reactive transport between the two phases. Finally, pore-scale simulation results of three-phase flow in a two-dimensional porous medium show that as viscosity of the phase to be displaced increases, the recovery rate of the displaced phase decreases, and the displacing phase tends to follow the mechanism of viscous fingering. Finally, while the viscosity of the displaced phase can be reduced due to the existence of the species, the recovery rate does not necessarily increase and sometimes even reduces due to the combined bypass and lubrication effects.