Digital Core and Rock-on-a-Chip
From micro-CT of a real core to a reproducible flow experiment on a chip: a digital pore-space model, a series of identical micromodels and testing.
| Fluid volume | max 20 mL per test |
|---|---|
| Test duration | up to 8 hours |
| Input data | micro-CT stack (DICOM/TIFF), voxel size, porosity and permeability; mineral maps if available |
| Digital processing | registration, filtering, segmentation, mask design, connectivity check |
| Chip | silicon-glass micromodel, series of identical copies |
| Standard HPHT setup | up to 60 MPa, up to 200 °C, ±0.5 °C temperature stability |
| 可视化 | channels below 20 µm |
| Deliverables | chip mask, micromodels, test report, video, saturation maps, displacement efficiency |
Screening reagents and studying displacement mechanisms requires comparing formulations on the same pore geometry. Real core cannot provide this: every sample is unique, duplicates are scarce and a repeat experiment changes the rock's initial state. A conventional core test also yields only integral results and does not reveal local causes — capillary trapping, breakthrough channels, phase snap-off.
LABADVANCE combines digital core processing, chip design and the flow experiment into one service. The micro-CT volume is denoised, aligned and segmented and, where data are available, registered with mineralogical maps. Porosity, pore and throat sizes, connectivity, tortuosity and fractures are used to build a representative 2D geometry adapted to the fabrication process without losing the key pore-network parameters.
A series of identical silicon-glass micromodels is made from one digital master design, so different agents are tested on the same structure and the reagent effect is separated from rock heterogeneity. The model can include mineralogical heterogeneity, specified wettability, fractures and high- and low-permeability zones. The chip is saturated with model or reservoir fluids and the selected agent is injected; video, differential pressure and phase balance yield saturation maps, breakthrough time, displacement efficiency and residual saturation.
Broad screening is done on reproducible chips, and only the most promising formulations and regimes move on to core testing. A typical two-phase experiment needs no more than 20 mL of fluid and runs up to 8 hours. The digital design is kept and reused for new series without rescanning the sample.