Experimental Investigation into Gas Hydrate Formation in Sediments with Cooling Method in Three-Dimensional Simulator

Abstract

Gas hydrate formation behaviors in sediments were investigated in a three-dimensional reactor using the cooling method. The characteristics of the temperature change, the heat transfer, the gas consumption, and the electrical resistance change in the hydrate formation process were studied. The results show that the temperature in the reactor gradually decreases from the near-wall to the center in the cooling process. The gas hydrate preferentially forms in the inner-wall regions of the reactor, which has a low temperature in the cooling process, and then the formation spreads to the surrounding area. On the basis of the balance of energy, it was found that the temperature change was roughly equal to the values calculated in the early stage of the hydrate formation. At the beginning of the hydrate formation, the hydrate formation rates at different places are very different from each other. The gas consumption rate first rises and then falls as the supercooling degree increases during the whole process. The changes of the temperature and resistance illustrate that the methane hydrate inhomogeneously distributes in the reactor.