Mechanisms governing production efficiency from methane hydrate bearing sediments

Zhiqiang Liu, Linlin Wang and Shihui Yu

Energy, 2023, vol. 268, issue C

Abstract: Low production efficiency limits the commercial feasibility of exploitation in methane hydrate (MH), which are distributed in the submarine sediments. This paper evaluates the production efficiency during gas recovery of MH by thermal stimulation and depressurization to analyze the main mechanism of MH dissociation. In particular, gas extraction from hydrate bearing sediments is influenced by heat transfer, fluid flow and kinetic dissociation. Results show that the kinetic dissociation has no influence on exploitation. During application of the thermal stimulation, the heat transfer mainly governs the process of hydrate dissociation. The gas recovery by depressurization, however, can be divided into two independent processes, one is mainly governed by fluid flow, and another is primarily controlled by heat transfer. Specifically, it indicates that once the sensible heat of hydrate reservoirs cannot supply the dissociation of MH, the additional energy will be supplied in the form of heat transfer from well or distant reservoirs, thus significantly decreasing production efficiency. The efficiency evaluation models of hydrate exploitation are established and further validated for depressurization and thermal stimulation, which is capable of promoting the future design and optimization to solve the problem related to low gas production.

Keywords: Methane hydrate; Depressurization; Thermal stimulation; Production efficiency; Governing mechanisms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:268:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223000051

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.126611

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