Pore-Scale Characterization of Nanoporous Shale

The mineral composition of shale matrix is very complex, and can be generally divided into organic matter (kerogen) and inorganic minerals (such as quartz, calcite, feldspar, clay, etc.). This results in a variety of pore types, a wide range of pore scales, and a different type of pore geometries. At the same time, the diversity of minerals also leads to nonuniform wetting properties of the in-situ shale pores, which further affects its gas-water distribution at pore scale. A great deal of practices and researches have been done to characterize the pore structure of shale. However, there still lack of a comprehensive summary of the key characteristic parameters of typical shale from the perspective of fluids modelling. Additionally, a flexible and convenient digital rock reconstruction method is also needed to represent the rock at pore-scale and representative-elementary-volume (REV) scale.