Experimental Simulation of the Exploitation of Natural Gas Hydrate

Natural gas hydrates are cage-like crystalline compounds in which a large amount of methane is trapped within a crystal structure of water, forming solids at low temperature and high pressure. Natural gas hydrates are widely distributed in permafrost regions and offshore. It is estimated that the wo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inEnergies Vol. 5; no. 2; pp. 466 - 493
Main Authors Liu, Bei, Yuan, Qing, Su, Ke-Hua, Yang, Xin, Wu, Ben-Cheng, Sun, Chang-Yu, Chen, Guang-Jin
Format Journal Article Book Review
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.02.2012
Subjects
chemical injection
depressurization
experimental simulation
exploitation
natural gas hydrate
thermal stimulation
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Natural gas hydrates are cage-like crystalline compounds in which a large amount of methane is trapped within a crystal structure of water, forming solids at low temperature and high pressure. Natural gas hydrates are widely distributed in permafrost regions and offshore. It is estimated that the worldwide amounts of methane bound in gas hydrates are total twice the amount of carbon to be found in all known fossil fuels on earth. A proper understanding of the relevant exploitation technologies is then important for natural gas production applications. In this paper, the recent advances on the experimental simulation of natural gas hydrate exploitation using the major hydrate production technologies are summarized. In addition, the current situation of the industrial exploitation of natural gas hydrate is introduced, which are expected to be useful for establishing more safe and efficient gas production technologies.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en5020466