Dissociation Behavior of Methane Hydrate in Sandy Porous Media below the Quadruple Point

To investigate the effect of ice formation on gas production from gas-hydrate-bearing sandy porous media, we conducted dissociation experiments using artificial methane hydrate cores by depressurizing them to below the quadruple point. We prepared water- and gas-saturated hydrate cores to evaluate the influence of water content on ice formation. The experiments showed that gas production under the ice formation regime had a unique high-rate period in the early stage of production, whereas under the water generation regime, the high-rate period was not observed. During ice formation, the gas production rates of the water-saturated cores exhibited greater acceleration than those of the gas-saturated cores. We conducted numerical simulations using the hydrate reservoir simulator MH21-HYDRES for quantitative analyses. The results showed that ice forms faster in a water-saturated core because of the availability of pore water for ice formation. This further enhances the gas production rate of a water-saturated core. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the rate of ice formation and the permeability reduction by ice formation are key model parameters affecting gas production behavior. From the experimental and numerical investigations, we conclude that depressurization-induced gas production can be accelerated by ice formation during hydrate dissociation at a pressure below the quadruple point.