Xenon Hydrate as an Analog of Methane Hydrate in Geologic Systems Out of Thermodynamic Equilibrium
Abstract
Methane hydrate occurs naturally under pressure and temperature conditions that are not straightforward to replicate experimentally. Xenon has emerged as an attractive laboratory alternative to methane for studying hydrate formation and dissociation in multiphase systems, given that it forms hydrates under milder conditions. However, building reliable analogies between the two hydrates requires systematic comparisons, which are currently lacking. We address this gap by developing a theoretical and computational model of gas hydrates under equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions. We first compare equilibrium phase behaviors of the Xe·H2O and CH4·H2O systems by calculating their isobaric phase diagram, and then study the nonequilibrium kinetics of interfacial hydrate growth using a phase field model. Our results show that Xe·H2O is a good experimental analog to CH4·H2O, but there are key differences to consider. In particular, the aqueous solubility of xenon is altered by the presence of hydrate, similar to what is observed for methane; but xenon is consistently less soluble than methane. Xenon hydrate has a wider nonstoichiometry region, which could lead to a thicker hydrate layer at the gas-liquid interface when grown under similar kinetic forcing conditions. For both systems, our numerical calculations reveal that hydrate nonstoichiometry coupled with hydrate formation dynamics leadsmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3];
[4]
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, MA (United States)
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Technical Univ. of Madrid (Spain)
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); US Geological Survey, Boulder, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1614195
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1523330
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FE0013999; SC0018357; FE0023495
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 20; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 1525-2027
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; Geochemistry & Geophysics
Citation Formats
Fu, Xiaojing, Waite, William F., Cueto‐Felgueroso, Luis, and Juanes, Ruben. Xenon Hydrate as an Analog of Methane Hydrate in Geologic Systems Out of Thermodynamic Equilibrium. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1029/2019gc008250.
Fu, Xiaojing, Waite, William F., Cueto‐Felgueroso, Luis, & Juanes, Ruben. Xenon Hydrate as an Analog of Methane Hydrate in Geologic Systems Out of Thermodynamic Equilibrium. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gc008250
Fu, Xiaojing, Waite, William F., Cueto‐Felgueroso, Luis, and Juanes, Ruben. Wed .
"Xenon Hydrate as an Analog of Methane Hydrate in Geologic Systems Out of Thermodynamic Equilibrium". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gc008250. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1614195.
@article{osti_1614195,
title = {Xenon Hydrate as an Analog of Methane Hydrate in Geologic Systems Out of Thermodynamic Equilibrium},
author = {Fu, Xiaojing and Waite, William F. and Cueto‐Felgueroso, Luis and Juanes, Ruben},
abstractNote = {Methane hydrate occurs naturally under pressure and temperature conditions that are not straightforward to replicate experimentally. Xenon has emerged as an attractive laboratory alternative to methane for studying hydrate formation and dissociation in multiphase systems, given that it forms hydrates under milder conditions. However, building reliable analogies between the two hydrates requires systematic comparisons, which are currently lacking. We address this gap by developing a theoretical and computational model of gas hydrates under equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions. We first compare equilibrium phase behaviors of the Xe·H2O and CH4·H2O systems by calculating their isobaric phase diagram, and then study the nonequilibrium kinetics of interfacial hydrate growth using a phase field model. Our results show that Xe·H2O is a good experimental analog to CH4·H2O, but there are key differences to consider. In particular, the aqueous solubility of xenon is altered by the presence of hydrate, similar to what is observed for methane; but xenon is consistently less soluble than methane. Xenon hydrate has a wider nonstoichiometry region, which could lead to a thicker hydrate layer at the gas-liquid interface when grown under similar kinetic forcing conditions. For both systems, our numerical calculations reveal that hydrate nonstoichiometry coupled with hydrate formation dynamics leads to a compositional gradient across the hydrate layer, where the stoichiometric ratio increases from the gas-facing side to the liquid-facing side. Our analysis suggests that accurate composition measurements could be used to infer the kinetic history of hydrate formation in natural settings where gas is abundant.},
doi = {10.1029/2019gc008250},
journal = {Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems},
number = 5,
volume = 20,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed May 29 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Wed May 29 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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