Experimental analysis on thermodynamic stability and methane leakage during solid fluidization process of methane hydrate

The solid fluidization exploitation method is a new type of marine methane hydrate exploitation method. The thermodynamic stability and methane leakage are two important characteristics for evaluating solid fluidization exploitation method. In this study, the solid fluidization exploitation process was technically achieved by water injection under constant pressure. It was found that the solid fluidization process of methane hydrate can be simply divided into three stages of pressure control, concentration control and equilibrium control. The filling rate of methane hydrate cage structure affected the stability of methane hydrate, which in turn affected the decomposition of methane hydrate during methane hydrate fluidization process. In this study, with the increase of methane hydrate in the reactor, the amount of hydrate decomposition in the reactor decreased. The fluidization rate affected the time for methane concentration to reach equilibrium. For every 10 ml/min increase in fluidization rate, the amount of hydrate decomposition doubled. The amount of methane leakage during the solid fluidization process of methane hydrate was very small, and increased with the temperature of the fluidized water. When the fluidization temperature increases by 7 K, the amount of methane leakage in the hydrate containing 1 L of methane increased by about 0.28 L. This study is of great significance to the application of solid fluidization exploitation method.

Automated summary

The solid fluidization exploitation method is a new approach for extracting marine methane hydrate, with thermodynamic stability and methane leakage being key factors. The study found that the process can be divided into pressure control, concentration control, and equilibrium control stages, and that the filling rate of the methane hydrate structure affects stability and decomposition. The study also showed that the fluidization rate affects decomposition and methane leakage, with higher temperatures leading to increased methane leakage.