Influence of micro-particles on gas hydrate formation kinetics: Potential application to methane storage and transportation

Abstract

Methane hydration is a safe, stable and environmentally friendly technology to bind and utilize excess coalbed methane gas. However, a limiting factor of the commercial application of coalbed methane hydration technology is the sluggish hydration reaction kinetics of methane hydrate formation, which needs to be improved. In this work, different micro-particle suspensions are prepared from an initial solution containing gellan gum and L-tryptophan, along with varying mass fractions of NiMnGa, Cu and carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes, and their influence on the reaction kinetics in methane hydrate formation is examined. The results show that the formation of methane hydrate is enhanced by these micro-particles to varying degrees. Micro-particles show a synergistic solubilization effect with L-tryptophan and gellan gum at 6.2 MPa. The induction times of 1 wt.% NiMnGa system and 1 wt.% Cu system are the shortest. The 2 wt.% NiMnGa system has a pronounced impact on methane gas consumption, and the average gas consumption rates of the 0.1 wt.% Cu system and 1 wt.% NiMnGa system are faster. However, as the concentration of Cu micro-particles increases, both gas consumption and the average generation rate exhibits a linear decrease. This work offers valuable recommendations for choosing the experimental settings, micro-particle types and concentrations. We also lay the groundwork for the practical and sustainable application of coalbed methane storage and transportation technology employing the hydrate approach.

Influence of saturation level on the acoustic emission characteristics of gas hydrate-bearing coal

“…In summary, due to the advantages of the gas excess method, such as small differences in saturation levels and wide saturation ranges among coal samples containing different gas hydrates, this study adopted the gas excess method to generate hydrates in the coal samples and investigated the influence of saturation factors on the acoustic emission characteristics of gas hydrated coal bodies 12 .…”