Pore-scale Study of Bio-mineral and Bio-gas Formations in Porous Media
The pore-scale characteristics of calcium carbonate precipitation via EICP and biogenic gas formation via MIDP were explored by visual observation in a transparent porous media using a microfluidic chip. For this purpose, an imaging system was designed and image processing algorithms were developed to analyze the experimental images and detect the nucleation and growth of precipitated minerals and formation and migration mechanisms of gas bubbles within the microfluidic chip. Statistical analysis was performed based on the processed images to assess the evolution of biomineral size distribution, the number of precipitated minerals and the porosity reduction in time. The resulting images from the biomineralization study were used in a numerical simulation to investigate the relation between the mineral distribution, porosity-permeability relationships and process efficiency. By comparing biogenic gas production with abiotic gas production experiments, it was found that the gas formation significantly affects the gas distribution and resulting degree of saturation. The experimental results and image analysis provide insight in the kinetics of the precipitation and gas formation processes and their resulting distribution and related engineering properties.
- Author (aut): Kim, Daehyun
- Thesis advisor (ths): van Paassen, Leon
- Committee member: Kavazanjian, Edward
- Committee member: Zapata, Claudia
- Committee member: Mahabadi, Nariman
- Committee member: Tao, Junliang
- Committee member: Jang, Jaewon
- Publisher (pbl): Arizona State University