Hydrocarbons (oil and gas) buried deep underground are the fundamental and necessary materials in daily life. For a long time, it has been established that these resources can only be extracted from conventional reservoirs. With the increasing demand for energy consumption and the rise of new development techniques, unconventional resources such as shale gas and tight oil are playing a more significant role in the energy supply. However, these reservoir rocks are featured by abundant micro/nanopores, resulting in the ultralow porosity and permeability, which makes the development quite difficult. How to effectively unlock unconventional reservoirs to achieve commercial production has become an urgent issue at present.
On the other hand, the recovery factor of tight reservoirs is generally low. In view of this, chemical-based techniques have been broadly utilized to promote hydrocarbon extraction in the petroleum industry. For instance, chemical additives (such as surfactants, nanofluids, and oxidant solutions) have been considered in the design of fracturing fluids to optimize rock wettability and fluid mobility, thus improving the recovery factor. However, the mechanisms behind these chemical approaches are still ambiguous, although they have been extensively investigated for years. One important reason is that a well-grounded understanding of the distinctive transport and phase behaviors of fluids confined in micro/nanopore space is lacking. Hence, the main goal of this research topic is to establish delicate experiments or rigorous numerical simulations that can either be at the macroscale or the microscale for providing deeper insights into the intricate process and mechanism of various stimulation methods.
The current research topic aims to collect original research articles, case studies, and review papers to improve the understanding of the mechanisms and potentials of various chemical methods and address the significant challenges in field applications. Submissions for publication include, but are not limited to, the topics listed below are welcome,
1. Mechanisms of spontaneous imbibition of fluids with chemical additives
2. Mechanisms of CO2 utilization for improved hydrocarbon recovery
3. Developments and applications of pore-scale numerical methods in geoscience
4. New insights into transport mechanisms in the confinement condition
5. Multiscale and Multiphysics process under subsurface flow
6. Chemistry-induced wettability alteration of rock surfaces
7. Characterization of pore structure under the oxidative dissolution effect
Hydrocarbons (oil and gas) buried deep underground are the fundamental and necessary materials in daily life. For a long time, it has been established that these resources can only be extracted from conventional reservoirs. With the increasing demand for energy consumption and the rise of new development techniques, unconventional resources such as shale gas and tight oil are playing a more significant role in the energy supply. However, these reservoir rocks are featured by abundant micro/nanopores, resulting in the ultralow porosity and permeability, which makes the development quite difficult. How to effectively unlock unconventional reservoirs to achieve commercial production has become an urgent issue at present.
On the other hand, the recovery factor of tight reservoirs is generally low. In view of this, chemical-based techniques have been broadly utilized to promote hydrocarbon extraction in the petroleum industry. For instance, chemical additives (such as surfactants, nanofluids, and oxidant solutions) have been considered in the design of fracturing fluids to optimize rock wettability and fluid mobility, thus improving the recovery factor. However, the mechanisms behind these chemical approaches are still ambiguous, although they have been extensively investigated for years. One important reason is that a well-grounded understanding of the distinctive transport and phase behaviors of fluids confined in micro/nanopore space is lacking. Hence, the main goal of this research topic is to establish delicate experiments or rigorous numerical simulations that can either be at the macroscale or the microscale for providing deeper insights into the intricate process and mechanism of various stimulation methods.
The current research topic aims to collect original research articles, case studies, and review papers to improve the understanding of the mechanisms and potentials of various chemical methods and address the significant challenges in field applications. Submissions for publication include, but are not limited to, the topics listed below are welcome,
1. Mechanisms of spontaneous imbibition of fluids with chemical additives
2. Mechanisms of CO2 utilization for improved hydrocarbon recovery
3. Developments and applications of pore-scale numerical methods in geoscience
4. New insights into transport mechanisms in the confinement condition
5. Multiscale and Multiphysics process under subsurface flow
6. Chemistry-induced wettability alteration of rock surfaces
7. Characterization of pore structure under the oxidative dissolution effect