Effect of Fluid Properties on Contact Angles in the Eagle Ford Shale Measured with Spontaneous Imbibition.

Models of fluid flow are used to improve the efficiency of oil and gas extraction and to estimate the storage and leakage of carbon dioxide in geologic reservoirs. Therefore, a quantitative understanding of key parameters of rock-fluid interactions, such as contact angles, wetting, and the rate of spontaneous imbibition, is necessary if these models are to predict reservoir behavior accurately. In this study, aqueous fluid imbibition rates were measured in fractures in samples of the Eagle Ford Shale using neutron imaging.

Water Migration and Swelling in Engineered Barrier Materials for Radioactive Waste Disposal.

Deep, underground repositories are needed to isolate radioactive waste from the biosphere. Because bentonite is an integral component of many multibarrier repository systems, information on the hydraulic behavior of bentonite is crucial for modeling the long-term viability of such systems. In this paper the hydraulic behavior of bentonite samples was analyzed as a function of aggregate size, and samples were subjected to hydrothermal treatments involving contact with NaCl, KCl, and deionized water.

Solvent-pore interactions in the Eagle Ford shale formation.

The effect of solvent extraction on pore space was examined on a suite of samples from the Eagle Ford Shale Formation with varying lithologies and maturities. Several solvents ─toluene, cyclohexane, methanol, dichloromethane, and hydrochloric acid─ were contacted with shale samples, extracting the compatible organic matter. The porosity in these extracted shale samples was compared to unmodified samples.

Deviation between the chemistry of Ce(IV) and Pu(IV) and routes to ordered and disordered heterobimetallic 4f/5f and 5f/5f phosphonates.

The heterobimetallic actinide compound UO(2)Ce(H(2)O)[C(6)H(4)(PO(3)H)(2)](2)·H(2)O was prepared via the hydrothermal reaction of U(VI) and Ce(IV) in the presence of 1,2-phenylenediphosphonic acid. We demonstrate that this is a kinetic product that is not stable with respect to decomposition to the monometallic compounds. Similar reactions have been explored with U(VI) and Ce(III), resulting in the oxidation of Ce(III) to Ce(IV) and the formation of the Ce(IV) phosphonate, Ce[C(6)H(4)(PO(3)H)(PO(3)H(2))][C(6)H(4)(PO(3)H)(PO(3))]·2H(2)O, UO(2)Ce(H(2)O)[C(6)H(4)(PO(3)H)(2)](2)·H(2)O, and UO(2)[C(6)H(4)(PO(3)H)(2)](H(2)O)·H(2)O.