Magnetic resonance imaging of gas hydrate formation in a bed of silica sand particles

The formation of methane hydrate in an unconsolidated bed of silica sand was investigated and spatially resolved by employing the magnetic resonance imaging technique. Different sand particle size ranges (210–297, 125–210, 88–177, and <75 μm) and different initial water saturations (100, 75, 50,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy & Fuels
Main Authors: Bagherzadeh, S. Alireza, Moudrakovski, Igor L., Ripmeester, John A., Englezos, Peter
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1021/ef200399a
https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=c6c3cbf7-4efc-489f-b0c0-f0da5febcbad
https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=c6c3cbf7-4efc-489f-b0c0-f0da5febcbad
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Summary:The formation of methane hydrate in an unconsolidated bed of silica sand was investigated and spatially resolved by employing the magnetic resonance imaging technique. Different sand particle size ranges (210–297, 125–210, 88–177, and <75 μm) and different initial water saturations (100, 75, 50, and 25%) were used. It was observed that hydrate formation in such porous media is not uniform, and nucleation of hydrate crystals occurs at different times and different positions inside the bed. Also, hydrate formation was found to be faster in a bed with lower water content and smaller particle size. Decomposition of hydrate by thermal stimulation at constant volume showed that the dissociation front moves radially inward starting from the external surface of the hydrate formation vessel. Peer reviewed: Yes NRC publication: Yes