Formation of a Low-Density Liquid Phase during the Dissociation of Gas Hydrates in Confined Environments

The large amounts of natural gas in a dense solid phase stored in the confined environment of porous materials have become a new, potential method for storing and transporting natural gas. However, there is no experimental evidence to accurately determine the phase state of water during nanoscale ga...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanomaterials
Main Authors: Wan, Lihua, Zang, Xiaoya, Fu, Juan, Zhou, Xuebing, Lu, Jingsheng, Guan, Jinan, Liang, Deqing
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: MDPI 2021
Subjects:
nanoscale gas hydrate
nanoscale pores
decomposition mechanism
low-density liquid water
dissociation behavior
Chemistry
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Materials Science
Physics
Multidisciplinary
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Applied
Ice Point
Methane hydrate
Online Access:http://ir.giec.ac.cn/handle/344007/32881
https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11030590
Description
Summary:The large amounts of natural gas in a dense solid phase stored in the confined environment of porous materials have become a new, potential method for storing and transporting natural gas. However, there is no experimental evidence to accurately determine the phase state of water during nanoscale gas hydrate dissociation. The results on the dissociation behavior of methane hydrates confined in a nanosilica gel and the contained water phase state during hydrate dissociation at temperatures below the ice point and under atmospheric pressure are presented. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) were used to trace the dissociation of confined methane hydrate synthesized from pore water confined inside the nanosilica gel. The characterization of the confined methane hydrate was also analyzed by PXRD. It was found that the confined methane hydrates dissociated into ultra viscous low-density liquid water (LDL) and methane gas. The results showed that the mechanism of confined methane hydrate dissociation at temperatures below the ice point depended on the phase state of water during hydrate dissociation.

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