Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Experimental Study of Adsorption Effects on Shale Permeability

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Natural Resources Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

CH4 adsorption plays an important role in the permeability evolution of unconventional gas reservoirs. In this paper, an experimental method for simultaneous measurement of rock adsorption and permeability has been developed. For this experimental method, the CH4 adsorption amounts were obtained using a volumetric method. The permeability was measured by considering gas diffusion from the reference chamber to the core sample, under the pressure difference. A set of adsorption-permeability experiments were conducted on shale samples from lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation in the Sichuan Basin. The experimental results show that both the adsorption and swelling behavior of shale can be well described by the Langmuir equation. The effects of adsorption on permeability are influenced by two factors: (1) adsorption-induced storage, which causes an incremental in apparent porosity, leading to a significant error in permeability measurement if true porosity is used; and (2) adsorption-induced swelling, which potentially closes the existing natural fractures and reduces the intrinsic permeability. The adsorption storage effects are more significant at low pressure and are influenced by the experimental configurations (ratio of chamber volume to pore volume). With the increase in adsorption-induced swelling strain, the permeability declines by a cubic function during the adsorption process. Since swelling strain is linearly proportional to the amount of CH4 adsorbed, the behaviors of permeability and the amount of adsorbing gas follow similar trends.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anggara, F., Sasaki, K., & Sugai, Y. (2016). The correlation between coal swelling and permeability during CO2 sequestration: A case study using Kushiro low rank coals. International Journal of Coal Geology, 166, 62–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brace, W. F., Walsh, J. B., & Frangos, W. T. (1968). Permeability of granite under high pressure. Journal of Geophysical Research, 73, 2225–2236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cao, C., Li, T., Shi, J., Zhang, L., Fu, S., Wang, B., et al. (2016). A new approach for measuring the permeability of shale featuring adsorption and ultra-low permeability. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 30, 548–556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cao, P., Liu, J., & Leong, Y. K. (2017). A multiscale-multiphase simulation model for the evaluation of shale gas recovery coupled the effect of water flowback. Fuel, 199, 191–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, T., Feng, X. T., & Pan, Z. (2015). Experimental study of swelling of organic rich shale in methane. International Journal of Coal Geology, 150, 64–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, T., Feng, X. T., & Pan, Z. (2018). Experimental study on kinetic swelling of organic-rich shale in CO2, CH4 and N2. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 55, 406–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell, L. D., Lu, M., & Pan, Z. (2010). An analytical coal permeability model for tri-axial strain and stress conditions. International Journal of Coal Geology, 84(2), 103–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cui, X., & Bustin, R. M. (2005). Volumetric strain associated with methane desorption and its impact on coalbed gas production from deep coal seams. AAPG Bulletin, 89, 1181–1202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cui, X., Bustin, A. M. M., & Bustin, R. M. (2009). Measurements of gas permeability and diffusivity of tight reservoir rocks: Different approaches and their applications. Geofluids, 9, 208–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cui, X., Bustin, R. M., & Chikatamarla, L. (2007). Adsorption-induced coal swelling and stress: implications for methane production and acid gas sequestration into coal seams. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 112, B10202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day, S., Fry, R., & Sakurovs, R. (2008). Swelling of Australian coals in supercritical CO2. International Journal of Coal Geology, 74, 41–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day, S., Fry, R., & Sakurovs, R. (2012). Swelling of coals in carbon dioxide, methane and their mixtures. International Journal of Coal Geology, 93(1), 40–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan, J., Feng, R., Wang, J., & Wang, Y. (2017). Laboratory investigation of coal deformation behavior and its influence on permeability evolution during methane displacement by CO2. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 50, 1725–1737.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feng, R., Harpalani, S., & Liu, J. (2017a). Optimized pressure pulse-decay method for laboratory estimation of gas permeability of sorptive reservoirs: Part 2-Experimental study. Fuel, 191, 565–573.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feng, R., Harpalani, S., & Pandey, R. (2016). Evaluation of various pulse-decay laboratory permeability measurement techniques for highly stressed coals. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 50, 297–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feng, R., Liu, J., & Harpalani, S. (2017b). Optimized pressure pulse-decay method for laboratory estimation of gas permeability of sorptive reservoirs: Part 1-background and numerical analysis. Fuel, 191, 555–564.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, A. L., Busch, A., Duffy, G., Fitzgerald, J. E., Gasem, K. A. M., Gensterblum, Y., et al. (2004). An inter-laboratory comparison of CO2 isotherms measured on argonne premium coal samples. Energy & Fuels, 18, 1175–1182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo, X., Wang, Z. M., & Zhao, Y. L. (2016). A comprehensive model for the prediction of coal swelling induced by methane and carbon dioxide adsorption. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 36, 563–572.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harpalani, S., & Chen, G. (1995). Estimation of changes in fracture porosity of coal with gas emission. Fuel, 74(10), 1491–1498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harpalani, S., & Chen, G. (1997). Influence of gas production induced volumetric strain on permeability of coal. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 15, 303–325.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heller, R., & Zoback, M. (2014). Adsorption of methane and carbon dioxide on gas shale and pure mineral samples. Journal of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources, 8, 14–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huo, P., Zhang, D., Yang, Z., Li, W., Zhang, J., & Jia, S. (2017). CO2 geological sequestration: Displacement behavior of shale gas methane by carbon dioxide injection. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 66, 48–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jia, J., Sang, S., Cao, L., & Liu, S. (2018). Characteristics of CO2/supercritical CO2 adsorption-induced swelling to anthracite: An experimental study. Fuel, 216, 639–647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiyama, T., Nishimoto, S., Fujioka, M., Xue, Z., Ishijima, Y., Pan, Z., et al. (2011). Coal swelling strain and permeability change with injecting liquid/supercritical CO2 and N2 at stress-constrained conditions. International Journal of Coal Geology, 85, 56–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, H., Elsworth, D., Mathews, J. P., & Marone, C. (2016). Permeability evolution in sorbing media: Analogies between organic-rich shale and coal. Geofluids, 16, 43–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levine, J. R. (1996). Model study of the influence of matrix shrinkage on absolute permeability of coal bed reservoirs. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 109(1), 197–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, J., Ren, T., Wang, G., Booth, P., & Nemcik, J. (2017). Experimental study of the adsorption-induced coal matrix swelling and its impact on ECBM. Journal of Earth Science, 28, 917–925.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, S. M., & Harpalani, S. (2014). Compressibility of sorptive porous media: Part 2. Experimental study on coal. AAPG Bulletin, 98, 1773–1788.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, H. H., & Rutqvist, J. (2010). A new coal-permeability model: Internal swelling stress and fracture-matrix interaction. Transport in Porous Media, 82(1), 157–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, J., Wang, J. G., Gao, F., Ju, Y., Zhang, X., & Zhang, L. (2016a). Flow consistency between non-Darcy flow in fracture network and nonlinear diffusion in matrix to gas production rate in fractured shale gas reservoirs. Transport in Porous Media, 111, 97–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, S. M., Wang, Y., & Harpalani, S. (2016b). Anisotropy characteristics of coal shrinkage/swelling and its impact on coal permeability evolution with CO2 injection. Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, 6, 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luffel, D. L., & Guidry, F. K. (1992). New core analysis methods for measuring reservoir rock properties of Devonian Shale. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 44(11), 1184–1190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma, T., Rutqvist, J., Oldenburg, C. M., Liu, W., & Chen, J. (2017). Fully coupled two-phase flow and poromechanics modeling of coalbed methane recovery: Impact of geomechanics on production rate. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 45, 474–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Majewska, Z., Ceglarska-Stefańska, G., Majewski, S., & Ziętek, J. (2009). Binary gas sorption/desorption experiments on a bituminous coal: Simultaneous measurements on sorption kinetics, volumetric strain and acoustic emission. International Journal of Coal Geology, 77, 90–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Majewska, Z., Majewski, S., & Ziętek, J. (2013). Swelling and acoustic emission behaviour of unconfined and confined coal during sorption of CO2. International Journal of Coal Geology, 116–117, 17–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meng, Y., & Li, Z. (2017). Triaxial experiments on adsorption deformation and permeability of different sorbing gases in anthracite coal. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 46, 59–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niu, Q., Cao, L., Sang, S., Zhou, X., & Wang, Z. (2018). Anisotropic adsorption swelling and permeability characteristics with injecting CO2 in coal. Energy and Fuels, 32(2), 1979–1991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niu, Q., Cao, L., Sang, S., Zhou, X., Wang, Z., & Wu, Z. (2017). The adsorption-swelling and permeability characteristics of natural and reconstituted anthracite coals. Energy, 141, 2206–2217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan, Z., & Connell, L. D. (2007). A theoretical model for gas adsorption-induced coal swelling. International Journal of Coal Geology, 69(4), 243–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perera, M. S. A. (2017). Influences of CO2 injection into deep coal seams: A review. Energy and Fuels, 31(10), 10324–10334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perera, M. S. A., Ranjith, P. G., & Choi, S. K. (2013). Coal cleat permeability for gas movement under triaxial, non-zero lateral strain condition: A theoretical and experimental study. Fuel, 109, 389–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pini, R., Ottiger, S., Burlini, L., Storti, G., & Mazzotti, M. (2009). Role of adsorption and swelling on the dynamics of gas injection in coal. Journal of Geophysical Research, 114(B4), B04203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sakhaee-Pour, A., & Bryant, S. (2012). Gas permeability of shale. SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering, 15, 401–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sakurovs, R., Day, S., Weir, S., & Duffy, G. (2007). Application of a modified Dubinin–Radushkevich equation to adsorption of gases by coals under supercritical conditions. Energy & Fuels, 21, 992–997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sang, G., Elsworth, D., Liu, S., & Harpalani, S. (2017). Characterization of swelling modulus and effective stress coefficient accommodating sorption-induced swelling in coal. Energy and Fuels, 31, 8843–8851.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shi, J. Q., & Durucan, S. (2004). Drawdown induced changes in permeability of coalbeds: A new interpretation of the reservoir response to primary recovery. Transport in Porous Media, 56, 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siriwardane, H., Haljasmaa, I., McLendon, R., Irdi, G., Soong, Y., & Bromhal, G. (2009). Influence of carbon dioxide on coal permeability determined by pressure transient methods. International Journal of Coal Geology, 77(1), 109–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • St. George, J. D., & Barakat, M. A. (2001). The change in effective stress with shrinkage from gas desorption in coal. International Journal of Coal Geology, 45(2–3), 105–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suarez-Rivera, R., Chertov, M., Willberg, D., Green, S., & Keller, J. (2012). Understanding permeability measurements in tight shales promotes enhanced determination of reservoir quality. In Presented at the SPE Canadian Unconventional Resources Conference, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 30 Oct–1 Nov.

  • Wang, S., Elsworth, D., & Liu, J. (2011). Permeability evolution in fractured coal: The roles of fracture geometry and water-content. International Journal of Coal Geology, 87(1), 13–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Y., Liu, S., & Elsworth, D. (2015). Laboratory investigations of gas flow behaviors in tight anthracite and evaluation of different pulse-decay methods on permeability estimation. International Journal of Coal Geology, 149, 118–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Z., Dong, M., Zhang, S., Gong, H., Li, Y., & Long, F. (2016). A method for determining transverse permeability of tight reservoir cores by radial pressure pulse decay measurement. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 121, 7054–7070.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Z., Sang, Q., Dong, M., Zhang, S., Li, Y., & Gong, H. (2015). A modified pressure-pulse decay method for determining permeabilities of tight reservoir cores. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 27, 236–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan, W., Pan, Z., Li, X., Yang, Y., Zhao, C., Connell, L. D., et al. (2014). Experimental study and modelling of methane adsorption and diffusion in shale. Fuel, 117, 509–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zang, J., & Wang, K. (2017). Gas sorption-induced coal swelling kinetics and its effects on coal permeability evolution: Model development and analysis. Fuel, 189, 164–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zarębska, K., & Ceglarska-Stefańska, G. (2008). The change in effective stress associated with swelling during carbon dioxide sequestration on natural gas recovery. International Journal of Coal Geology, 74, 167–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, D. F., Cui, Y. J., Liu, B., Li, S. G., Song, W. L., & Lin, W. G. (2011). Supercritical pure methane and CO2 adsorption on various rank coals of China: Experiments and modeling. Energy and Fuels, 25, 1891–1899.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, X. G., Ranjith, P. G., Perera, M. S. A., Ranathunga, A. S., & Haque, A. (2016a). Gas transportation and enhanced coalbed methane recovery processes in deep coal seams: A review. Energy and Fuels, 30, 8832–8849.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Y., Lebedev, M., Sarmadivaleh, M., Barifcani, A., & Iglauer, S. (2016b). Swelling-induced changes in coal microstructure due to supercritical CO2 injection. Geophysical Research Letters, 43, 9077–9083.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Y., Lebedev, M., Sarmadivaleh, M., Barifcani, A., Rahman, T., & Iglauer, S. (2016c). Swelling effect on coal micro structure and associated permeability reduction. Fuel, 182, 568–576.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51374257 and 50804060). It was also supported by the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for the second author’s visit at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, Guizhou, China

    Yu Zhao & Chaolin Wang

  2. School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, No. 174 Shazhengjie Road, Shapingba District, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Yongfa Zhang & Qiang Liu

Authors
  1. Yu Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chaolin Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yongfa Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Qiang Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chaolin Wang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhao, Y., Wang, C., Zhang, Y. et al. Experimental Study of Adsorption Effects on Shale Permeability. Nat Resour Res 28, 1575–1586 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-019-09476-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-019-09476-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation