Quantifying hydrate solidification front advancing using method of characteristics

You, Kehua; DiCarlo, David; Flemings, Peter B.

doi:10.1002/2015JB011985

Title: Quantifying hydrate solidification front advancing using method of characteristics

Journal Article · Mon Sep 07 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JB011985· OSTI ID:1468398

You, Kehua ^[1]; DiCarlo, David ^[1]; Flemings, Peter B. ^[1]

Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX (United States)

Abstract We develop a one‐dimensional analytical solution based on the method of characteristics to explore hydrate formation from gas injection into brine‐saturated sediments within the hydrate stability zone. Our solution includes fully coupled multiphase and multicomponent flow and the associated advective transport in a homogeneous system. Our solution shows that hydrate saturation is controlled by the initial thermodynamic state of the system and changed by the gas fractional flow. Hydrate saturation in gas‐rich systems can be estimated by when Darcy flow dominates, where cl ₀ is the initial mass fraction of salt in brine, and cl _e is the mass fraction of salt in brine at three‐phase (gas, liquid, and hydrate) equilibrium. Hydrate saturation is constant, gas saturation and gas flux decrease, and liquid saturation and liquid flux increase with the distance from the gas inlet to the hydrate solidification front. The total gas and liquid flux is constant from the gas inlet to the hydrate solidification front and decreases abruptly at the hydrate solidification front due to gas inclusion into the hydrate phase. The advancing velocity of the hydrate solidification front decreases with hydrate saturation at a fixed gas inflow rate. This analytical solution illuminates how hydrate is formed by gas injection (methane, CO ₂ , ethane, propane) at both the laboratory and field scales.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: FE0010406; DE‐FE0010406

OSTI ID:: 1468398

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1402374

Journal Information:: Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth, Vol. 120, Issue 10; ISSN 2169-9313

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 13 works

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