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Characterization of Nanometer-Scale Porosity in Reservoir Carbonate Rock by Focused Ion Beam–Scanning Electron Microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2012

Bijoyendra Bera ,
Naga Siva Kumar Gunda ,
Sushanta K. Mitra  and
Douglas Vick
Bijoyendra Bera
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Micro and Nano-Scale Transport Laboratory, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G8, Canada
Naga Siva Kumar Gunda
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Micro and Nano-Scale Transport Laboratory, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G8, Canada
Sushanta K. Mitra*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Micro and Nano-Scale Transport Laboratory, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G8, Canada
Douglas Vick
Affiliation:
NRC-National Institute for Nanotechnology, Edmonton, AB T6G 2M9, Canada
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: sushanta.mitra@ualberta.ca
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Abstract

Sedimentary carbonate rocks are one of the principal porous structures in natural reservoirs of hydrocarbons such as crude oil and natural gas. Efficient hydrocarbon recovery requires an understanding of the carbonate pore structure, but the nature of sedimentary carbonate rock formation and the toughness of the material make proper analysis difficult. In this study, a novel preparation method was used on a dolomitic carbonate sample, and selected regions were then serially sectioned and imaged by focused ion beam–scanning electron microscopy. The resulting series of images were used to construct detailed three-dimensional representations of the microscopic pore spaces and analyze them quantitatively. We show for the first time the presence of nanometer-scale pores (50–300 nm) inside the solid dolomite matrix. We also show the degree of connectivity of these pores with micron-scale pores (2–5 μm) that were observed to further link with bulk pores outside the matrix.

Keywords

reservoir rockcarbonatedolomite coreFIB-SEMserial sectioningmicrostructure
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , February 2012 , pp. 171 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2012

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References

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