Simultaneous Measurement of Rock Permeability and Effective Porosity using Laser-Polarized Noble Gas NMR

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel NMR imaging technique using laser-polarized xenon gas to simultaneously measure rock permeability and effective porosity, providing accurate results and potential applications in porous media analysis.

Contribution

The paper presents a new NMR method for concurrent measurement of permeability and effective porosity in rock cores, outperforming traditional techniques for porosity.

Findings

Permeability measurements agree with industry standards.

Effective porosity can be accurately determined using the new NMR method.

Technique applicable to various porous and granular media.

Abstract

We report simultaneous measurements of the permeability and effective porosity of oil-reservoir rock cores using one-dimensional NMR imaging of the penetrating flow of laser-polarized xenon gas. The permeability result agrees well with industry standard techniques, whereas effective porosity is not easily determined by other methods. This novel NMR technique may have applications to the characterization of fluid flow in a wide variety of porous and granular media.