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Title: Hydrate thermal properties measurements. Monthly report, January 1985

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6246220

Natural gas hydrates have been detected in many regions of the world and vast quantities of natural gas are expected to exist in the hydrate state in suboceanic sediments as well as in the formations below the permafrost base. Since gas hydrates are a concentrated form of natural gas (180 SCF gas per CF of hydrate), they have great potential as a future resource of natural gas. Although gas hydrates show great promise as a future energy source, this resource is relatively new and the technology to produce natural gas from hydrates is not yet developed. Several ways for dissociating hydrates in the earth have been suggested. These include thermal stimulation, in-situ combustion, depressurization, and injection of hydrate inhibitors. Holder et al. (1982) have shown that the thermal recovery technique is energy efficient from the thermodynamic viewpoint. McGuire (1981) and Bayles et al. (1984) have developed thermal recovery models and concluded that steam or hot water stimulation techniques are most attractive for gas hydrate production. It is probably essential at the present stage to launch a detailed study dealing, on a fundamental level, with the mathematical modeling of the dissociation process of in-situ hydrates or hydrates formed in sediment. Such a study represents a necessary step toward an experimental investigation of in-situ hydrate dissociation as well as reservoir simulation studies for the production of natural gas from hydrates in earth. With the exception of few Russian publications dealing, on a fundamental level, with the mathematical modeling of in-situ hydrate dissociation, no similar studies are available in the western literature. The authors present their mathematical model for recovery of natural gas from a gas hydrate deposit. While considerable progress has been made, solutions of simple form are not available.

Research Organization:
Colorado School of Mines, Golden (USA). Dept. of Chemical and Petroleum Refining Engineering
DOE Contract Number:
AC21-83MC20693
OSTI ID:
6246220
Report Number(s):
DOE/MC/20693-T13; ON: DE85006909
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English