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Title: Experimental and Modeling Study of Methane Adsorption onto Partially Saturated Shales

Abstract

Abstract Shale gas equilibrates through gas‐liquid‐solid interactions in reservoirs, but the role of moisture is rarely investigated. To determine how adsorbed water influences methane behavior, three carboniferous shale samples from the Qaidam Basin, China, were humidified at five levels up to a relative humidity of 89%, and their methane capacities at pressures up to 12 MPa were studied. The experimental results indicate that two water‐related mechanisms, “water blocking for methane transport” and “surface competition for gas‐solid interaction,” are primarily responsible for the methane capacity variations. A compositional comparison suggests that a high abundance of clay minerals plays a favorable role in methane migration by retaining water in interlayer pores. Based on the experimental data, an optimized method for calculating the adsorption amount based on an approximation of density distribution is proposed. The model predicts the average thickness of the adsorption layer and the adsorbed methane density distribution on the surface at a given pressure. The methane adsorption layer “thins” in a stepped pattern by up to 45% in the presence of water, with little further change observed at relative humidities greater than 75% in the studied samples.

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. China Univ. of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing (China); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. China Univ. of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing (China)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
OSTI Identifier:
1477333
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1462113
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; DE‐AC02‐05CH11231; FWP‐ESD14085
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Water Resources Research
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 54; Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 0043-1397
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES; methane adsorption; moisture; shale

Citation Formats

Wang, Lu, Wan, Jiamin, Tokunaga, Tetsu K., Kim, Yongman, and Yu, Qingchun. Experimental and Modeling Study of Methane Adsorption onto Partially Saturated Shales. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1029/2017WR020826.
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Wang, Lu, Wan, Jiamin, Tokunaga, Tetsu K., Kim, Yongman, & Yu, Qingchun. Experimental and Modeling Study of Methane Adsorption onto Partially Saturated Shales. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2017WR020826
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Wang, Lu, Wan, Jiamin, Tokunaga, Tetsu K., Kim, Yongman, and Yu, Qingchun. Thu . "Experimental and Modeling Study of Methane Adsorption onto Partially Saturated Shales". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2017WR020826. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1477333.
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@article{osti_1477333,
title = {Experimental and Modeling Study of Methane Adsorption onto Partially Saturated Shales},
author = {Wang, Lu and Wan, Jiamin and Tokunaga, Tetsu K. and Kim, Yongman and Yu, Qingchun},
abstractNote = {Abstract Shale gas equilibrates through gas‐liquid‐solid interactions in reservoirs, but the role of moisture is rarely investigated. To determine how adsorbed water influences methane behavior, three carboniferous shale samples from the Qaidam Basin, China, were humidified at five levels up to a relative humidity of 89%, and their methane capacities at pressures up to 12 MPa were studied. The experimental results indicate that two water‐related mechanisms, “water blocking for methane transport” and “surface competition for gas‐solid interaction,” are primarily responsible for the methane capacity variations. A compositional comparison suggests that a high abundance of clay minerals plays a favorable role in methane migration by retaining water in interlayer pores. Based on the experimental data, an optimized method for calculating the adsorption amount based on an approximation of density distribution is proposed. The model predicts the average thickness of the adsorption layer and the adsorbed methane density distribution on the surface at a given pressure. The methane adsorption layer “thins” in a stepped pattern by up to 45% in the presence of water, with little further change observed at relative humidities greater than 75% in the studied samples.},
doi = {10.1029/2017WR020826},
journal = {Water Resources Research},
number = 7,
volume = 54,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu May 31 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Thu May 31 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1029/2017WR020826
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Cited by: 24 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Schematic of the experimental apparatus.
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