Water transfer characteristics in the vertical direction during methane hydrate formation and dissociation processes inside non-saturated media

Abstract

In order to study water transfer characteristics inside non-saturated media during methane hydrate formation and dissociation processes, water changes on the top, middle and bottom locations of experimental media during the reaction processes were continuously followed with a novel apparatus with three pF-meter sensors. Coarse sand, fine sand and loess were chosen as experimental media. It was experimentally observed that methane hydrate was easier formed inside coarse sand and fine sand than inside loess. Methane hydrate formation configuration and water transfer characteristics during methane hydrate formation processes were very different among the different non-saturated media, which were important for understanding methane hydrate formation and dissociation mechanism inside sediments in nature.