Suitable Use of Capillary Number for Analysis of NAPL Removal from Porous Media

The capillary number is used to represent the mobilization potential of organic phase trapped within porous media. The capillary number has been defined by three different forms, according to types of flow velocity and viscosity used in the definition of capillary number. This study evaluated the suitability of the capillary number definitions for representing TCE mobilization by constructing capillary number-TCE saturation relationships. The results implied that the capillary number should be correctly employed, according to interest of scale and fluid flow behavior. This study suggests that the pore-scale capillary number may be used only for investigating the organic-phase mobilization at the pore scale because it is defined by the pore-velocity and the dynamic viscosity. The Newtonian-fluid capillary number using Darcy velocity and the dynamic viscosity may be suitable to quantify flood systems representing Newtonian fluid behavior. For viscous-force modified flood systems such as surfactant-foam floods, the apparent capillary number definition employing macroscopic properties (permeability and potential gradient) may be used to appropriately represent the desaturation of organic-phases from porous media.