Characterizing the Rheology of Methane Hydrate Slurry in a Horizontal Water-Continuous System

Abstract

Summary Methane hydrate slurry in a water-continuous system is a significant production issue during pilot explorations for natural gas and natural gas hydrates in a deepwater environment. This work investigated the morphology and rheology of hydrate slurry with hydrate concentrations from 6 to 11% and shear rates from 20 to 700 s−1. Although hydrate slurry is widely considered a pseudoplastic fluid, in our experiment, hydrate slurry exhibited shear-thinning behavior in low-shear-rate conditions and shear-thickening behavior in high-shear-rate conditions. The breakup of agglomerates built up between hydrate particles by shear force induced shear-thinning behavior in low-shear-rate conditions. The collision between monodispersed hydrate particles resulted in shear-thickening behavior in high-shear-rate conditions. The critical shear rate was proposed to describe the transition between the shear-thinning and shear-thickening behaviors of the hydrate slurry, which was a function of the hydrate concentration. Empirical Herschel-Bulkley-type equations were developed to describe the rheology of the hydrate slurry for both conditions.