Contact Angle Measurements Using Sessile Drop and Micro-CT Data from Six Sandstones

• Published in: Transport in porous media Vol. 133; no. 1; pp. 71 - 83
• Main Authors: Dalton, Laura E., Tapriyal, Deepak, Crandall, Dustin, Goodman, Angela, Shi, Fan, Haeri, Foad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-05-2020; Springer Nature B.V; Springer
• Subjects: Carbon sequestration; Civil Engineering; Classical and Continuum Physics; Computed tomography; Contact angle; Diameters; Droplets; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Hydrogeology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; MATERIALS SCIENCE; Micro-computed tomography; Pore size; Porosity; Reservoir storage; Sandstone; Sessile drop; Sessile drop method; Supercritical-CO2; Wettability; Supercritical-CO; Sessile drop; Contact angle; Micro-computed tomography
• ISSN: 0169-3913; 1573-1634
• DOI: 10.1007/s11242-020-01415-y

Numerous sessile drop and micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) studies have been conducted to quantify geologic carbon storage formation wettability by measuring static contact angles (
θ
); however, the influence of pore geometry remains unknown. In this work, six sandstones (Bandera Brown, Berea, Bentheimer, Mt. Simon, Navajo, and Nugget) are used to measure
θ
using the two aforementioned experimental methods at identical testing conditions (45 °C and 12.41 MPa). The range of
θ
measured at in situ conditions (micro-CT) exceeds the range at ex situ (sessile drop method) conditions for all sandstones. However, when droplets with more representative in situ diameters are analyzed,
θ
averages show ex situ
θ
exceed those of in situ
θ
. Pore geometry does influence local
θ
, but the size of ex situ droplets relative to pore size appears to influence
θ
. This is important to consider for future sessile drop studies used for analysis of CO
2
behavior in carbon storage reservoirs.