Rheological Properties of Methane Hydrate Slurry in the Presence of Xanthan Gum

Abstract

Summary Methane hydrate formation in a xanthan-gum (XG) solution is an important problem for drilling in a deepwater environment. It not only alters the rheology of the drilling fluid in the wellbore but increases the risks of a hydrate blockage in the blowout preventer. The current work is performing groups of experiments to investigate the rheology of the hydrate slurry under XG concentrations of 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, and 0.3%, shear rates from 10 to 480 s−1, and hydrate concentrations from 1.01 to 9.12%. The experimental results show that the hydrate slurry with XG additives exhibits an obvious shear-thinning behavior, which is because the XG solution has strong pseudoplastic characteristics, and the inner structures of the flocculated hydrate particles suspended in the hydrate slurry are broken up during the hydrate-slurry flow. The increase of hydrate concentrations in the hydrate slurry can reduce the non-Newtonian fluid index and make the rheology of the hydrate slurry become more shear-thinning. However, as the XG concentration increases in the hydrate slurry, the influence of the hydrate concentration on the rheology of the hydrate slurry gradually weakens. Empirical Herschel–Bulkley-type equations are developed to describe the rheology of the hydrate slurry with XG for the current experimental condition, considering the shear rate, hydrate concentration, and XG concentration. In the proposed equations, the non-Newtonian factor and the consistency factor are expressed as functions of XG concentration empirically. Correction Notice:The preprint version of this paper was modified from its original version to correct Figs. 8 and 9 and Eqs. 6 through 9 on page 7. Errata explaining the corrections are included below as Supporting Information.