Descripción del proyecto
Modelización de coloides para entender los flujos geológicos
Los coloides, mezclas en las que una sustancia es dispersada en diminutas partículas por otra, se encuentran en toda la naturaleza. Incluyen geles, soles y emulsiones, e incluso los virus y las bacterias pueden considerarse coloides. El objetivo del proyecto COCONUT, financiado con fondos europeos, es crear nuevas herramientas de predicción que expliquen cómo los coloides pueden controlar los flujos bifásicos inmiscibles en formaciones geológicas complejas. Los coloides de nanopartículas tienen el potencial de volver a movilizar las partículas atrapadas bajo la superficie, como en las aguas subterráneas contaminadas o en los depósitos de petróleo. En el proyecto se combinará la modelización hidro-electro-química y experimentos de microfluidos centrados en los mecanismos de los flujos a escala de poros con la ampliación de éstos a la escala de continuo. El objetivo final es demostrar cómo los coloides pueden controlar un flujo bifásico en sistemas geológicos a escala de columna.
Objetivo
The COCONUT project aims at developing predictive capabilities to understand how colloids (nanometals, fine particles, bacteria, viruses, asphaltenes..) control immiscible two-phase flow in complex geological formations. Colloids (including nanoparticles) have an incredible potential to remobilize non-aqueous phases trapped by capillary forces in soils and the subsurface, and then to remediate contaminated groundwater or to enhance oil recovery. Their use in daily engineering, however, is still underexploited because the lack of knowledge regarding their transport mechanisms is an obstacle to precise control of two-phase flow. Importantly, the presence of colloidal particles flowing in the subsurface challenges the standard modeling viewpoint of flow and transport based on Darcy's law. We posit that the precise control of colloids on the motion of two-phase flow can only be achieved by developing a deep knowledge of the coupled hydro-electro-chemical processes at the pore-scale. The COCONUT project uses a combined modelling-experimental strategy focusing on the pore-scale mechanisms and on the upscaling to the continuum-scale. The project is multi-disciplinary and uses computational and experimental sciences, fluid dynamics, electrochemistry, and mathematics. The project will require the development of hydro-electro-chemical computational models at different scales of interest (WP1). We will use high-resolution simulations to interrogate emergent physico-chemical processes and characterize the surface attractive and repulsive forces at the nanoscale (WP2). Then, we will decipher the mechanisms leading to the displacement of fluids trapped in an unsaturated porous medium in the presence of colloids using pore-scale modelling and microfluidic experiments (WP3). Finally, we will demonstrate and optimize the two-phase flow colloidal control in geological systems at the column-scale (WP4).
Ámbito científico
- natural scienceschemical scienceselectrochemistry
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologyvirology
- natural sciencesphysical sciencescondensed matter physicssoft matter physics
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsfluid dynamics
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitución de acogida
75794 Paris
Francia