Formation, growth and precipitation of fractal molecular aggregates in porous media

Analysis of small-angle scattering data, as well as novel precipitation measurements, are used to delineate the structure of the molecular aggregates that are formed when a fluid is injected into a porous medium to displace the in-place fluid. Our analysis suggests conclusively that these aggregates are fractal formed by diffusion-limited processes. The implications for the molecular weight distribution of the aggregates and modelling their flow and precipitation in a porous medium are discussed.