Investigation of the Variation of the Surface Area of Gas Hydrates during Dissociation by Depressurization in Porous Media

• DOI: 10.1021/ef400807n
• Publication Date: 2013-09-16T15:11:10Z
• Authors: Anjani Kumar; Brij Maini; P. R. Bishnoi; Matthew Clarke
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0204 chemical engineering

Carbon dioxide gas hydrates were formed and decomposed in a high-pressure cell equipped with a flat glass window that was packed with spherical glass beads. The experimental cell was constructed to be, for all practical purposes, a one-dimensional cell, and spherical glass beads were chosen as the porous medium becaus of their high permeability and easily defined geometry. The experiments were conducted at initial water saturations of 20, 25, 30, 35, and 42% with a pressure of 4 MPa during gas hydrate formation and 1.65 MPa during decomposition. The temperature during the experiments was maintained at 4 °C. To identify the functional form for the time-dependent gas hydrate surface area during decomposition, a sensitivity analysis was conducted with the data from one of the experiments. It was found that, in this experimental apparatus, packed with glass beads, the gas hydrate surface area was most closely approximated with a correlation that assumed the hydrate habit to be grain-coating. Subsequently, the...