A new geochemical reactive transport model for sandstone acidizing

• Published in: Computers & geosciences 2022-09, Vol.166, p.105178, Article 105178
• Main Authors: Khojastehmehr, Mohammad, Bazargan, Mohammad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Computational fluid dynamics; Geochemistry; Reactive transport modeling; Sandstone acidizing
• ISSN: 0098-3004; 1873-7803
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cageo.2022.105178

Understanding the chemistry of sandstone acidizing is important in designing an effective treatment for subsurface rock formations. The complex chemistry of sandstone systems leads to the precipitation of minerals that contribute to formation damage. Thus, monitoring the concentration and location of precipitates is necessary. In this work, a continuum-scale sequential implicit LEA/PLEA reactive transport model is developed and programmed through coupling OpenFOAM and Reaktoro to improve the model prediction. The proposed LEA/PLEA models are compared for core acidizing simulations at relatively high and low Damköhler numbers. We found that the common assumption of kinetically-controlled flow regimes in sandstone acidizing is valid even at practically high Damköhler numbers. The code is verified against a reference reactive transport code. Our results are consistent with two experimental research conducted on sandstones and shales. Finally, we demonstrate the role of precipitation mechanisms in permeability alteration by taking the example of silica and discussing how different arrangements of silica precipitates impact permeability. [Display omitted] •The development of a sequential LEA/PLEA reactive transport model through coupling of OpenFOAM and Reaktoro•Validating kinetically-controlled flow regime assumption at practically high Damköhler numbers•Model verification against a reference reactive transport code•Results consistency with two experimental studies of sandstones and shales•Demonstrating the role of precipitation mechanisms on simulation results