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Advances in Geo-Energy Research 2019, 3(2): 187-197 https://doi.org/10.26804/ager.2019.02.08
Original Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 29 March 2019

The impact of pore size distribution data presentation format on pore structure interpretation of shales

Show Author's Information Kouqi Liu,  Mehdi Ostadhassan ( )
Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA
Keywords:
gas adsorption, Pore size distribution, different presentations, multifractal, mercury intrusion
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Liu K, Ostadhassan M. The impact of pore size distribution data presentation format on pore structure interpretation of shales. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2019, 3(2): 187-197. https://doi.org/10.26804/ager.2019.02.08
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Abstract Full text About this article

A deeper understanding of pore structures in unconventional shale plays can lead to a better evaluation of storage and transport capacity in these complicated rock types. This task is usually done through pore size distribution (PSD) analysis. In this study, N2 adsorption and high-pressure mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) were employed to investigate several shale samples. Three different mathematical forms of PSD data presentation: Incremental pore volume versus diameter (DV), differential pore volume versus diameter (DV/Dd) and the log differential pore volume versus diameter (DV/Dlog d), were used to analyze pore structures from these two different methods. The comparison of the results showed that each form of PSD data presentation could demonstrate various types of important pore information. The DV curve is significantly dependent on the experimental data points' spacing while the other two are not affected. The DV/Dd curve would incite the existence of smaller pore ranges while the DV/Dlog d would embolden larger pore ranges. Additionally, multifractal analysis from each data presentation style illustrated that the heterogeneity index of PSD calculated from the DV/Dd curve is much significant than the one obtained from the DV/Dlog d curve. DV/Dd is more appropriate to be used for characterizing PSD data from N2 adsorption while DV/Dlog d is preferred when MIP data is collected from larger pores.


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About this article

The impact of pore size distribution data presentation format on pore structure interpretation of shales

Show Author's information Kouqi Liu, Mehdi Ostadhassan ( )
Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA

Abstract

A deeper understanding of pore structures in unconventional shale plays can lead to a better evaluation of storage and transport capacity in these complicated rock types. This task is usually done through pore size distribution (PSD) analysis. In this study, N2 adsorption and high-pressure mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) were employed to investigate several shale samples. Three different mathematical forms of PSD data presentation: Incremental pore volume versus diameter (DV), differential pore volume versus diameter (DV/Dd) and the log differential pore volume versus diameter (DV/Dlog d), were used to analyze pore structures from these two different methods. The comparison of the results showed that each form of PSD data presentation could demonstrate various types of important pore information. The DV curve is significantly dependent on the experimental data points' spacing while the other two are not affected. The DV/Dd curve would incite the existence of smaller pore ranges while the DV/Dlog d would embolden larger pore ranges. Additionally, multifractal analysis from each data presentation style illustrated that the heterogeneity index of PSD calculated from the DV/Dd curve is much significant than the one obtained from the DV/Dlog d curve. DV/Dd is more appropriate to be used for characterizing PSD data from N2 adsorption while DV/Dlog d is preferred when MIP data is collected from larger pores.

Keywords: gas adsorption, Pore size distribution, different presentations, multifractal, mercury intrusion

References(28)

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Publication history
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Publication history

Received: 20 February 2019
Revised: 21 March 2019
Accepted: 22 March 2019
Published: 29 March 2019
Issue date: June 2019

Copyright

© The Author(s) 2019

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the support from China Scholarship Council (No. 201406450029). We'd like to also show our appreciation to ND Core Library, Jeff Bader the director and state geologist as well as Kent Holland library technician for providing us with the samples. Authors would like to also thank the reviewers and journal editor for constructive feedback and comments.

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This article is distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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