A rapid method for the measurement and estimation of CO2 diffusivity in liquid hydrocarbon-saturated porous media using MRI.

In this study, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to dynamically visualize the diffusion process of CO2 in porous media saturated with liquid hydrocarbon. Based on the assumption of semi-infinite media, effective CO2 diffusivity was obtained directly by the nonlinear fitting of one MR profile during the diffusion process. These experimental findings obtained based on MRI method showed a close agreement with the conventional pressure-volume-temperature method. The novel MRI-based technique is a time-saving approach that can reduce the duration of CO2 diffusivity measurement more than 90%, and realize rapid and accurate measurement and estimation of CO2 diffusivity.