Investigation-the-Effect-Mixing-Grain-Size-and-Epoxy-Glue-Content-on-Index-Properties-of-Synthetic-Sandstone-Sample

Abstract

: Evaluating petroleum reserves requires an initial investigation of the relevant petrophysical characteristics of a target area’s sandstones. In general, the most common type of host rocks represented in the hydrocarbon reservoirs are sedimentary rocks, which includes sandstone. This paper presents a technique for preparing four homogenises synthetic sandstone samples that can be applied in the hydrocarbon recovery projects. The approach mixes sand together with epoxy glue and can be employed in the evaluation of synthetic sand plug characteristics and then compared with fine-grained sandstone sample. The study conducted extensive laboratory testing using lab-created synthetic sandstone samples of four sandstone grain sizes. The three synthetic sandstone samples were made from four different sandstone grain sizes, and one sample was a mixture of two different grain size with various amount of epoxy. Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have been used to first characterize and then analyze the pore morphology and index properties for the synthetic samples. The index properties included permeability, porosity, median pore diameter, tortuosity, and pore size distribution. The experimental results indicated that weak solidified sandstone index characteristics are strongly affected by both mixing and grain size. In addition, SEM map images revealing pore morphologies and homogenises grain distribution of the tested samples indicate that grains that undergo reductions in size require additional epoxy glue content, likely due to binder distribution of glue among the small grains.