Methane hydrate formation and dissociation in sand media: Effect of water saturation, gas flowrate and particle size

• Main Authors: Fatima Benmesbah, Livio Ruffine, Pascal Clain, Véronique Osswald, Olivia Fandino, Laurence Fournaison, Anthony Delahaye
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Methane hydrate
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/3931448; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3931448

Assessing the influence of key parameters governing the formation of hydrates and determining the capacity of the latter to store gaseous molecules is needed to improve our understanding of the implication of natural gas hydrates in the oceanic methane cycle. Such knowledge also will support the development of new industrial processes and technologies such as those related to thermal energy storage. In the present work, laboratory experiments of methane hydrate formation and dissociation were carried out in a sandy matrix at a temperature around 276.65 K, and by applying an excess gas method. We investigated the influence of water saturation, methane injection flowrate and particle size on hydrate formation kinetics and methane storage capacity. We selected six water saturations (10.8 %, 21.6 %, 33 %, 43.9 %, 55 % and 66.3 %), three gas flowrates (29 mLn.min-1, 58 mLn.min-1 and 78 mLn.min-1) and three classes of sand particle size (80-140 µm, 315-450 µm and 80-450 µm). In line with previous studies, we showed that all three parameters significantly impact hydrate formation and their storage capacity. In addition, we were able to show a clear link between the gas injection flowrate and the induction time, irrespective of water saturation and particle size. Such clear behavior is less conspicuous when varying either the particle size or the water saturation level.