INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

(INDIAN SCHOOL OF MINES) DHANBAD

SESSION – 2022-23

DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERING

Reservoir Engineering Practical
Project Report on the Topic

“POROSITY BY SATURATION”
SUBMITTED TO : Prof. Keka Ojha
SUBMITTED BY : Rohit Shakya (21JE0778)
Rudrapratap Singh Nimbla (21JE0786)
Sampati Rao Himanshu Rao (21JE0814)
Sandeep Singh (21JE0820)
Sanket Rav (21JE0826)
SEMESTER : B.Tech. 3rd semester

Project Report : Porosity by Saturation 1

 Content table

SI.NO Content Page No.

1. Objective 03

2. Theory 03

3. Apparatus 07

4. Procedure 12

5. Observation Table 13

6. Calculation 14

7. Result 14

8. Discussion 14

9. Precaution 15

10. Scope 15

11. Recent Development 16

12 References 16

Project Report : Porosity by Saturation 2

 objective
The main objective of this project is to determine the bulk volume,
grain volume, pore volume and effective porosity of
interconnected pores of a core sample with the use of liquid
saturation method.

THEORY
Porosity of a material is defined as that fraction of the bulk volume
of this material that is not occupied by the solid framework of the
material.In oil reservoirs,the porosity represents the percentage of
the total space that is available for occupancy by either liquids or
gases. Core plug sample saturator is a system that consists of a
pressure control panel, a core Plug holder vessel, a pneumatic pump
to drive water into the sample saturation chamber, and a vacuum
pump. The system allows complete saturation of core plug samples
at pressures up to 2000 psi. The Core plug sample saturator permits
to perform a sequence of vacuum and saturation cycles on plug size
samples. The standard apparatus includes a plug sized core cell, a
vacuum pump, an hand operated pressure pump (2,000 psi output),
a saturant vacuum tank and necessary hand operated valves and
plumbing.The manual saturator permits to perform a sequence of
vacuum and saturation cycles on plug size samples.
A technique for measuring the pore volume of a core sample from
the difference in its weight when dry and when saturated with a

Project Report : Porosity by Saturation 3

 liquid. A clean, dry sample is weighed and then evacuated for
several hours in a vacuum chamber, flushing with CO2 to remove
remaining air if necessary. A de-aerated liquid is introduced into the
chamber and pressured to ensure complete saturation. The
saturated sample is then weighed again. The difference in weight
divided by the density of the liquid is the connected, or effective,
pore volume.
It is also common to measure the weight of the
sample when immersed in the liquid. The grain and bulk volume can
then be calculated as in the buoyancy method and then we can find
the porosity of a sample. We can do the saturation for a core sample
by different ways One of the way that used for this purpose called
(manual saturating method) .

Grain volume:
The grain volume can be determined from the dry sample weight and
the grain density. For many purposes, result with sufficient accuracy
can be obtained by using the density of quartz (2.65 g/cm3) as the
grain density.

A method of determining the gain volume is crushing the sample after

determining the bulk volume, thus removing all pores including the
non-interconnecting ones. The volume of solids is then determined by
fluid displacement in a pycnometer.

Pore volume:
There are methods to measure the pore volume of the rock sample
directly with no need to determine the grain volume. Actually, all these
methods measure effective porosity. The methods are based on the
extraction of a fluid from the sample or intrusion of a fluid into the
pore space of the rock sample.

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 Pore Volume, Vp = (Wt. of saturated core –Wt. of dry core) /
(Density of liquid)

Hence effective porosity, Фe = (Vp / Vb)*100%

Mercury injection method:

Both the bulk and pore volume are determined in this method. The
tested sample is placed in a chamber filled to a certain level with
mercury, with a known volume of air at a known pressure (e.g.
atmospheric pressure) above it. The volume of mercury displaced by
the sample gives the bulk volume. When the pressure of mercury is
increased by a volumetric pump, the mercury penetrates the pore
space of the sample. Total effective pore volume could be determined
by gradually increasing the pressure. In general the method is not
suitable for low permeability samples as very high pressure are
required.

Gas expansion method:

This method is based on the Boyle-Marriote Gas Law. It may be the
most widely used method for determine porosity. The test usually
carried out at the constant temperature. Basically two chambers with
known volumes are connected by a valve (Figure 2-10). The tested
sample is placed in the chamber of volume V1. The pressure in this
chamber is P1. The second chamber (volume V2), initially at pressure
P0, is connected to the first one by opening the valve between them,
thus permitting the gas to expand isothermally. If the final pressure is
P2, from Boyle-Marriote law we have:

Where Vs = grain volume.

Usually, for simplification, helium as an approximately ideal gas, at low

pressure, is used and according the ideal gas assumption Z=1;

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 Figure 2-10: Porosimeter Based on Boyle – Mariotte’s Law

Imbibition method:
Reservoir rocks have the ability of imbibe water spontaneously. This
property is used to determine effective porosity of the rock. In this
method the weight of a dry sample is measured and then the sample is
immersed under vacuum in water or any other fluid that rock has the
tendency to imbibe. After enough time, up to several days, the
saturated sample is weighted. Utilizing the density of the liquid we can
find the imbibed fluid volume and subsequently the effective porosity
of the sample.

Optical methods:
The porosity of a sample is equal to the “areal porosity” provided that
pore structure is random. The areal porosity is determined on polished
thin sections of a sample. It is often necessary to impregnate the pore
with some material such as wax, plastic, color, or wood’s metal in order
to make pores more visible and/or distinguishing interconnected pore
from the isolated pores (Figure 1-1). When impregnating the sample
with a resin only the interconnected pores will be invaded. Whenever
there are very small pores present along with large ones, it is very
difficult to make sure that all the small pores have been accounted for
by the measurement. This is one of the reasons why the porosity
measurements by the optical methods may differ significantly from the
results obtained by other methods.

Project Report : Porosity by Saturation 6

 Figure 2-11: Colored Thin Section Microscopic Image

Statistical methods:
A pin is dropped many times in a random manner on an enlarged
photomicrograph of a section of consolidated porous material, the
porosity of which is to be determined. It can be shown that the
probability of a random point falling within the pore space of this
section is equal to the porosity. Therefore, as the number of tosses
increases, the number of times the pin’s point falls in the pore space to
the total number of tosses approaches the value of the porosity.

Apparatus
The standard apparatus includes a plug sized core cell, a vacuum
pump, a saturation flask,Dessicator , vernierCaliper, Stopwatch ,
Brine , Core saturator , Analytical balance and Core sample.

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 FIGURE 1: EXPERIMENTAL SET- UP FOR SATURATION OF CORE

VacuumPump :
The vacuum pump is one kind of system used to reduce the liquid
pressure, comparative to limited pressure, and attained through a
vacuum system which is frequently used to take away surplus air
and its elements.

Project Report : Porosity by Saturation 8

Desiccators :
Desiccators are sealable enclosures containing desiccants used for
preserving moisture-sensitive items such as cobalt chloride paper
for another use.

Vernier Caliper :
A Vernier Caliper is an instrument that measures internal or
external dimensions and distances. It allows you to take more
precise measurements than you could with regular rulers.

Project Report : Porosity by Saturation 9

Analytical Balance :

An analytical balance is a class of balance designed to measure small

mass in the sub-milligram range.

Core sample :
A core sample is a cylindrical section of (usually) a naturally-occurring
substance. Most core samples are obtained by drilling with special drills into
the substance, such as sediment or rock, with a hollow steel tube, called a core
drill.

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Core Saturation flask :

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 Procedure
(A) Extraction of formation fluid from original core : The core is
extracted thoroughly by CCl4, dried in an oven at a temperature
102ºC ± 5ºC, overnight & cooled in a desiccator.
(B) Saturation of Core : After extraction and drying of the core, it is
taken for determination of porosity. The steps listed below are
followed in sequence:
 At first weight and dimensions of the dry core were
determined. Then it was placed into the saturation assembly.
 Now dropping funnel was fitted tightly with a rubber cork and
connected to the saturation flask. A thin film of vacuum grease
was applied to make connection between dropping funnel and
flask air tight.
 Now brine solution 1% was filled up in dropping funnel and
the stop cork was closed so that water may not come out from
dropping funnel into saturation flask.
 The saturation assembly is connected to vacuum pump.
 The vacuum pump was switched on to evacuate all the air from
the system. It was run for 20 minutes.
 Now brine solution was added from dropping funnel drop wise
such that the core is just covered by the brine solution and the
vacuum pump was continued till all air bubbles disappear.
 When the air bubble is completely disappeared the vacuum
pump is stopped and the system is slowly connected to the
atmospheric pressure.
 The sample was taken out and excess liquid on the surface was
wiped out .
 Weight of the saturated core was determined.

Project Report : Porosity by Saturation 12

 Parameters to be determined :
(i) Weight of the dry core (W1, gm) .
(ii) Dimension and bulk volume (Vb, cc) of the core .
(iii) Weight of the saturated core (W2, cc).
(iv) Density of the brine solution (ρ gm/cc).
(v) Pore volume (Vp, cc) .

Observation Table
SI.NO Core Length Diameter Dry Volume Wt. of Pore Porosity
(cm) (cm) Wt. (cm3) saturated Volume (%)
Of core (g) (cm3)
core
(g)
1. 1 2.924 1.82 15.24 7.5329 16.77 1.5208 19.992

2. 2 2.864 1.83 14.94 7.6069 16.55 1.6004 21.245

 Dry wt. of Pycnometer : 16.14g

 Wt. after filling brine : 16.55g

Project Report : Porosity by Saturation 13

 Calculations
Density of core : (26.20-16.14)/10 = 10.06/10 = 1.006g
Vol. of core (1) : (πd1*d1/4)*L = 7.6069cc
Vol. of core (2) : (πd2*d2/4)*L = 7.5329cc
Pore Volume (1) :ΔW1/density = 1.5208cc
Pore Volume (2) :ΔW2/density = 1.6004cc
Porosity of core (1) :1.5208/7.6069 = 19.992%
Porosity of core (2) :1.6004/7.5209 = 21.245%

Result
Thus Effective porosity of supplied core (1) and (2) are 19.992%
and 21.245% respectively.

Discussion
 One of important points we just have to get attention about the
vacuum process because there shouldn’t be air or water in the
cylinder where we put the core inside it.
 We found the effective porosity of a sample because we used a
saturation method for finding porosity of a sample ,because a
pore which not connect with another pore not saturated.

Project Report : Porosity by Saturation 14

  We have to keep the pressure on the or up to 2000psi during
the time we counting on because it will be more efficient like
that.

Precautions
(1) Parallax error should be avoided while measuring dimensions
of core using vernier callipers.
(2) The core should be gently placed inside the flask, to avoid any
breakage of core.
(3) The vacuum pump should be switched on till the last air
bubble is removed from core i.e. core should almost 100%
saturated.
(4) The saturated core should be nicely wiped off any extra liquid
on its surface using blotting papers.

Scope
 The effective porosity is of interest to petroleum engineers as it
accounts for true hydrocarbon capacity of rock. Effective porosity
is a measure of interconnected pores.
 Saturation method gives quick measurement of porosity and the
accuracy is satisfactory.

Project Report : Porosity by Saturation 15

 Recent Development
 A model has been made to correlate permeability with efficient
porosity and irreducible water saturation .
 A new method to calculate the porosity & saturation of the
fractured reservoir is found.

References
 Taliaferro, D. B., Jr., Johnson, T. W., and Dewees, E. J.: "A Method of
Determining Porosity: A List of Porosities of Oil Sands," U. S.
Bureau of Mines R. I. No. 3352 (September, 1937).

Porosity-Measurement Comparisons by Five Laboratories.

Laboratory_Manual_1660273722180529546362f5c43ac470d.pdf

 Iitismlab manual
https://iitismacin-
my.sharepoint.com/personal/21je0405_iitism_ac_in/_layouts/15/on
edrive.aspx?ga=1&id=%2Fpersonal%2F21je0405%5Fiitism%5Fac%5Fi
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ersonal%2F21je0405%5Fiitism%5Fac%5Fin%2FDocuments%2F3rd%2
0sem%2FSlides%2C%20books%2C%20notes%2FRE%20Lab

 Porosity by saturation methodJul. 31, 2015

Kamal Abdurahman
https://www.slideshare.net/AppleGreen6/porosity-by-
saturation- method-51153795

Project Report : Porosity by Saturation 16

THANK
YOU

Project Report : Porosity by Saturation 17