Contrast Analysis of Hydrates Exploitation by Two In-Situ Heat-Generation Methods with Chemical Reagents and with Heat-Generation Powders

• Published in: Energy & fuels Vol. 38; no. 14; pp. 12791 - 12809
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yangyang, Ji, Peng, Yang, Hemin, Zhang, Jianbo, Wang, Zhiyuan, Sun, BaoJiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 18.07.2024
• Subjects: Unconventional Energy Resources
• ISSN: 0887-0624; 1520-5029
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.4c01688

Based on the efficient heating way to accelerate the natural gas hydrate (NGH) dissociation, two new gas recovery from hydrate-bearing sediments (HBS), termed the “in situ heat generation method with chemical reagents and with heat generation powders”, are studied by laboratory experiments. The exploitation performance via chemical reagent huff and puff (CHP) method and heat generation powders thermal stimulation (HPTS) method are analyzed. During the NGH exploitation, response characteristics such as gas production, temperature change, energy efficiency, and thermal efficiency were obtained. For gas production, both CHP and HPTS contribute to NGH exploitation. When using CHP, the hydrate-bearing sediments (HBS) temperature is much lower than that of traditional thermal stimulation methods. When using HPTS, temperature disturbances in HBS are further reduced. In terms of energy, the energy efficiency and thermal efficiency of CHP are lower than those of HPTS. The ultimate energy efficiency and thermal efficiency of HPTS are as high as 13.25 and 0.8109, respectively, nearly double that of traditional thermal stimulation methods. The results indicate that HPTS can achieve favorable gas production and better heat transfer; most importantly, by utilizing means of hydration heat regulation, it can further reduce heat loss from raising HBS temperature, achieving ideal heat utilization efficiency, i.e., higher energy efficiency. Therefore, HPTS has certain commercial development prospects, with the potential to achieve sustainable development and clean production.