The InterPore-2024 International Conference was held in Qingdao, China, May 12 - 18 (https://events.interpore.org/event/46/). The team from LABADVANCE presented two oral presentations and one poster presentation. The company's presentations were devoted to the most relevant topics in the field of microfluidic technologies, as well as the implementation of microfluidic tests in the laboratories of leading oil and gas companies.
Evgeny Shilov (СТО of LABADVANCE) moderated the section “Microfluidics and nanofluidics in pore systems” and presented a report on “Validation of methodology for determining the minimum mixing pressure (MMP) on a microfluidic slim-tube analog”. The report was devoted to the replacement of the long-term and expensive traditional method of MMP variation with a faster and more advanced one using microfluidic technologies. Based on the results, comparisons of traditional MMP measurement tests with the results obtained on microfluidic chips were presented at the conference. The results obtained are consistent with each other, and the microfluidic tests performed can be fully considered a fast and cheap alternative to slim-tube.
The report “Repetition of void space structure in a microfluidic chip based on a complex of lithological and mineralogical data of core from Achimov low-permeability reservoirs” was presented by Latypova Margarita, LABADVANCE researcher. The paper described an innovative technique for generation of artificially created void space structure in microfluidic chips using a complex of lithological and mineralogical characteristics of the prototype rock and digital core data constructed from microtomography results. The present technique allows for accurate transfer of core sample parameters such as permeability, pore size and geometry, pore size distribution, average permeability, pore channel widths and lengths. The work also presented an innovative method to create inhomogeneous wettability in microfluidic chips.
The poster presentation by LABADVANCE researcher Dmitry Pereponov “Visualization of microfluidic studies on asphaltene deposition under high temperatures” presented the results of tests on a new high-temperature microfluidic cell with zonal chip heating. Oils with high heavy hydrocarbon content were investigated in microfluidic chips with step heating. At different temperature regimes, asphaltene components, which often complicate field development, were precipitated within a microfluidic chip filled with high-viscosity oil. Based on the results of this work, microfluidic studies have been shown to be an excellent method for visualizing the various processes that occur with heavy oil during field development.
LABADVANCE exhibition stand was also presented at the conference, where the company's employees answered actual questions on the development of customized microfluidic equipment. For the first time at the conference stand were presented not only methods of service tests for various oil companies, but also innovative microfluidic equipment, including cells and chip holders for tests at high temperatures and pressures, microfluidic syringe pumps, fully developed systems.
On the final day of the conference, LABADVANCE staff met with their colleagues from the Microfluidic Research Laboratory of China University of Petroleum (East China). Two scientific groups agreed to cooperate internationally and conduct joint research to further develop the scientific potential of microfluidic technologies for the oil and gas industry in both countries.
LABADVANCE expresses its sincere gratitude to the organizers of the conference and hopes for further cooperation in promoting the idea of microfluidic tests and popularization of the scientific direction at the international level.