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Thermodynamics of liquids in capillary medium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2020

Ilyas Al-Kindi  and
Tayfun Babadagli Open the ORCID record for Tayfun Babadagli [Opens in a new window]
Ilyas Al-Kindi
Affiliation:
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Mining and Petroleum, University of Alberta, 7-277 Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering, 9211 – 116th Street, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaT6G 1H9
Tayfun Babadagli*
Affiliation:
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Mining and Petroleum, University of Alberta, 7-277 Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering, 9211 – 116th Street, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaT6G 1H9
*
†Email address for correspondence: tayfun@ualberta.ca
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Abstract

The phase behaviour of fluids at capillary conditions differs from that in bulk media. Therefore, understanding the thermodynamics of solvents in confined media is essential for modelling non-isothermal and non-isobaric engineering applications in porous media – including enhanced oil and heavy-oil recovery. The Thomson equation states that pore sizes have control over the boiling points of liquids in capillary channels. As pore spaces get smaller, boiling temperatures become lower than the normal boiling temperatures of the same liquids. The objective of this paper is to inspect this phenomenon by physically measuring the boiling points of different liquids at capillary conditions and comparing them with the values at bulk conditions and boiling temperatures obtained from the Thomson equation. Several types of microfluidic chips were used as capillary media to observe the phase-change behaviour of heptane, heptane–decane mixture and naphtha. Additionally, vaporization of water, heptane and decane was investigated in Berea sandstone, Indiana limestone, tight sandstone and shale. Pore size distribution analysis was performed to identify the pore diameter variations in each rock sample, and how the existence of extended nanopores in the rocks could impact the phase alteration.

JFM classification

Drops and Bubbles: Bubble dynamics Drops and Bubbles: Thermocapillarity
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 905 , 25 December 2020 , A32
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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