Formation of a Mixed Region of Carbon Dioxide and Methane Hydrates during the Injection of Liquid Carbon Dioxide to a Reservoir Saturated with Methane and Water

Abstract

Based on the equations of continuous medium mechanics, a mathematical model is constructed for the injection of liquid carbon dioxide into the porous medium saturated with methane and water for the case when the injection is accompanied by the formation of gas hydrates of carbon dioxide and methane. Self-similar solutions to the one-dimensional problem describing the evolution of hydrodynamic and temperature fields are constructed. The dynamics of movement of frontal boundaries of phase transitions with respect to injection pressure and temperature, as well as with respect to permeability and initial pressure of the porous medium is investigated. It is shown that intensity of the formation of methane and carbon dioxide gas hydrates increases with an increase in injection pressure and reservoir permeability, and at rather high values of permeability, pressure drop in the reservoir and injection temperature, the frontal formation boundaries of methane and carbon dioxide gas hydrates may merge. The dependence of the limit values of injection pressure and temperature corresponding to the merger of the phase transition boundaries on the permeability and initial pressure is studied in this work.