Machine-Learning-Assisted Segmentation of Focused Ion Beam-Scanning Electron Microscopy Images with Artifacts for Improved Void-Space Characterization of Tight Reservoir Rocks

Summary The modern focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) allows imaging of nanoporous tight reservoir-rock samples in 3D at a resolution up to 3 nm/voxel. Correct porosity determination from FIB-SEM images requires fast and robust segmentation. However, the quality and efficient segmentation of FIB-SEM images is still a complicated and challenging task. Typically, a trained operator spends days or weeks in subjective and semimanual labeling of a single FIB-SEM data set. The presence of FIB-SEM artifacts, such as porebacks, requires developing a new methodology for efficient image segmentation. We have developed a method for simplification of multimodal segmentation of FIB-SEM data sets using machine-learning (ML)-based techniques. We study a collection of rock samples formed according to the petrophysical interpretation of well logs from a complex tight gas reservoir rock of the Berezov Formation (West Siberia, Russia). The core samples were passed through a multiscale imaging workflow for pore-space-structure upscaling from nanometer to log scale. FIB-SEM imaging resolved the finest scale using a dual-beam analytical system. Image segmentation used an architecture derived from a convolutional neural network (CNN) in the DeepUNet (Ronneberger et al. 2015) configuration. We implemented the solution in the Pytorch® (Facebook, Inc., Menlo Park, California, USA) framework in a Linux environment. Computation exploited a high-performance computing system. The acquired data included three 3D FIB-SEM data sets with a physical size of approximately 20 × 15 × 25 µm with a voxel size of 5 nm. A professional geologist manually segmented (labeled) a fraction of slices. We split the labeled slices into training, validation, and test data. We then augmented the training data to increase its size. The developed CNN delivered promising results. The model performed automatic segmentation with the following average quality indicators according to test data: accuracy of 86.66%, precision of 54.93%, recall of 83.76%, and F1 score of 55.10%. We achieved a significant boost in segmentation speed of 14.5 megapixel (MP)/min. Compared with 0.18 to 1.45 MP/min for manual labeling, this yielded an efficiency increase of at least 10 times. The presented research work improves the quality of quantitative petrophysical characterization of complex reservoir rocks using digital rock imaging. The development allows the multiphase segmentation of 3D FIB-SEM data complicated with artifacts. It delivers correct and precise pore-space segmentation, resulting in little turn-around-time saving and increased porosity-data quality. Although image segmentation using CNNs is mainstream in the modern ML world, it is an emerging novel approach for reservoir-characterization tasks.