Natural Gas Storage Research Articles

Experimental investigation on energy and mass transport at steady-state evaporating interface in liquid methane storage tanks

In large-scale energy storage and transportation applications, a comprehensive understanding of the evaporation characteristics of liquid methane will benefit the extension of liquid methane storage duration and the improvement in energy storage efficiency. The complexities of achieving cryogenic steady-state evaporation and submillimeter visualization make experimental studies of liquid methane interfacial heat and mass transport difficult and insufficient. In this study, a cryogenic evaporation testing rig was constructed to obtain the interfacial temperature distributions of liquid methane with a spatial resolution of 50 µm. The evaporation coefficient was obtained directly from the measured temperature profile data near the liquid/vapor methane interface. The coupled effects of thermal conduction and Marangoni convection at the liquid-methane interface were revealed and quantitatively compared to those of liquid oxygen and water. A new high-precision dimensionless correlation for the evaporation coefficient was proposed for liquid methane, which explained the consistent dependence of the evaporation coefficient on the liquid-side temperature and wall interface height. The results help to enhance the simulation stability and accuracy and benefit the design of liquid methane or liquefied natural gas storage tanks.

Policy and legal frameworks for underground natural gas storage in Iran

Policy and legal frameworks for underground natural gas storage in Iran

Machine learning modelling and evaluation of jet fires from natural gas processing, storage, and transport

AbstractJet fires and their repercussions play a significant role in catastrophic incidents that typically have a cascading impact in process industries. Several hydrocarbon experiments from 19 papers were incorporated into the current endeavour to develop simulations of jet flames using machine learning (ML) models. Dimensionless characteristics have been used as output and input variables, including mass flow rates, fuel density, jet flame length, and heat release fluxes. When training three layers of the multi‐layer feedforward neural network (MLFFNN) method, a Bayesian regularization backpropagation approach was adopted and evaluated with the radial based functions (RBF) algorithm. Through an optimization procedure, the first and second hidden layers of the MLFFNN have been optimized to include 10 and five neurons, respectively. The RBF algorithm with 40 neurons in a single layer has been computed using the same method. The best mean square error (MSE) validation results for RBF and MLFFNN were 0.006 and 0.0002, respectively, for 40 and 100 epochs. The MLFFNN and RBF models' respective regression statistical analysis outputs were 0.9949 and 0.9645. The ML method has been identified as a potentially useful technique for precisely predicting the geometrical and radiative characteristics of jet flames.

Gas adsorptions of geological carbon storage with enhanced gas recovery

Understanding gas adsorptions in porous media is of critical importance to numerous academic research and industrial applications. Here, adsorptions of methane and carbon dioxide, which are primary compositions of natural gas and carbon capture and storage (CCS) processes, on different minerals are specifically investigated and their effects on reservoir productions and carbon storage processes are evaluated. First, an improved simplified local-density (SLD) model is developed to calculate the gas adsorptions by considering the complex porous composition and confinement effects induced phenomena. Then, the improved SLD model is embedded into a self-developed field simulation program to analyse the production processes of a selected large-scale gas reservoir. The proposed improved adsorption model is validated to be accurate for various multiscale minerals at different temperature and pressure conditions. By using the coupling with reservoir numerical simulation, the adsorption model is successfully up-scaled to practical field scale which is efficient and effective for predicting gas productions and analysing relevant influential factors, such as temperature, pressure and reservoir physical properties. The proposed theoretical approach provides strong technical support for future natural gas productions and CCS projects with its capability of calculating gas adsorptions on different minerals and practical gas field productions.

Research of the technology for hydrate prevention in gas transportation system

The principal aim of natural and associated gas preparation to transportation is provision of normal transportation inside field niacin gas pipelines. Developed gas and gas condensate field, production of which consists of great amount of different aggressive admixtures and mineral salts, require efficient of natural gas for further transportation.
 The results of aforesaid system phase state test investigation are given in the article. Its presently at water phase and salt composition.
 A Principals physical and chemical factors of inhibitor composition under different proportion of components were determined under laboratory conditions. New inhibitor composition, was selected on the base of experimental investigation results there also was developed the technology of inhibitor application for gas field treatment.
 Since the efficiency of gas storage and transportation processes depends on the compliance of these processes with the requirements of the related equipment and relevant technologies, the operating modes of gas lift lines and compressor stations should be regularly examined. There is no doubt that the efficiency of storage and transportation of natural and associated gas is ensured at a distributed level, provided that the technological equipment is reliable, durable and operates in accordance with the requirements. One of the most important issues is to improve the used technology to prevent hydrate formation in the process of production, storage and transportation of gas condensate in complex conditions. On the basis of scientific a research and field surveys there were developed new scientific a technical measure to increase the efficiency of the installation for preparation of gas

Optimal Operation of Integrated Energy Systems Based on Multi-Energy Coupling With Power-to-Gas Technology

Abstract Natural gas and renewable energy sources make up an increasingly large proportion of power generation due to their being environmentally friendly. Because of the intermittent and fluctuating output of renewable energy sources, the emerging technology of power-to-gas (P2G) units is of great significance to alleviate. This paper focuses on the coordinated optimization of the combined gas and electricity network (CGEN) system with bidirectional energy conversion. Gas-fired power generation (GPG) plants and P2G are considered as linkages between the two networks. A unified CGEN mathematical model is established with the minimum operation cost as the objective function. The injection and production process of underground natural gas storage (UNGS) is also taken into consideration that is not available in other literature. Variables such as the output of P2G and gas-fired power generation plants, the supply of UNGS, and the wind curtailment are optimized correspondingly. The improved 24-node power grid (PG) and Belgium 20-node natural gas pipeline network (NGPN) are adopted to test the validity and capability of the proposed model, and then we compare the results CGEN model with the single Belgium NGPN to analyze the impact on the NGPN. Moreover, we adopt a coupled operation system of a 6-node power system and a 7-node NGPN to further analyze the influence of P2G on the CGEN. The results show that compared with the system without P2G, the total operating cost of the system is reduced by 9.39%, the natural gas load shedding is reduced by 26.1%, and the wind curtailment is reduced from 326 MWh to zero.

Geological risk and uncertainty for underground storage of buoyant fluids, lessons learned in Illinois

Abstract This paper describes selected natural gas storage and carbon capture and storage (CCS) case studies from Illinois, USA, their general applicability to subsurface buoyant fluid storage, and summarizes lessons learned. In Illinois, a 70-year history of sustained natural gas storage has provided a foundational understanding of risk associated with using the subsurface for storing buoyant fluids. In addition to natural gas storage, over 3 million tonnes of CO 2 have been injected into the Cambrian Mt Simon Sandstone at the Decatur, IL CCS project site. In Illinois, many of the storage projects are in the Mt Simon Sandstone, a saline (aquifer) reservoir. In gas storage fields the characterization of faulting and seal properties has historically not been adequate. Identification of Precambrian palaeotopography is essential when completing initial site assessment in reservoirs close to the Precambrian contact. The presence of basement palaeotopographical highs increases the risk of not having a storage reservoir and increased chance of induced seismicity. The Cambrian Mt Simon Sandstone of the Illinois Basin has some of the most suitable strata in the midwestern USA for the sequestration of CO 2 and storage of energy in the form of natural gas. The improved understanding gained from natural gas storage and from carbon sequestration is also directly applicable to assessing the potential of emerging energy storage technologies, such as compressed air energy storage (CAES) and geological hydrogen storage.

Optimal Design of Cryogenic Insulation System for Large Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Storage Tanks Based on Operation Factors

Liquefied natural gas (LNG), as a recognized clean energy, has seen a rapid increase in global consumption in recent years. As the core equipment of the LNG receiving terminal, the large LNG storage tanks, its’ cryogenic insulation system design is particularly important. The insulation system is mainly used to maximize the control of the daily evaporation of cold storage tanks, so as to achieve long-term storage of LNG in the tank. Its design is particularly important. At present, the internal design of the industry often only considers the construction conditions, without comprehensive consideration of operation, maintenance and other full-life cycle conditions. This paper analyzes and optimizes the design of the insulation system of large LNG storage tanks from the aspects of the performance of the insulation material itself, the construction period, pre-cooling start-up, operation and maintenance and other comprehensive operating factors. And taking the 30,000 m3 LNG storage tanks as an example, through the analysis and comparison of some columns, obtained the optimal daily evaporation rate requirements of the insulation system, which can be used as a reference for the design of LNG projects during the construction period.

Metal cation substitution can tune CO2, H2O and CH4 switching pressure in transiently porous coordination networks.

Compared to rigid physisorbents, switching coordination networks that reversibly transform between closed (non-porous) and open (porous) phases offer promise for gas/vapour storage and separation owing to their improved working capacity and desirable thermal management properties. We recently introduced a coordination network, X-dmp-1-Co, which exhibits switching enabled by transient porosity. The resulting "open" phases are generated at threshold pressures even though they are conventionally non-porous. Herein, we report that X-dmp-1-Co is the parent member of a family of transiently porous coordination networks [X-dmp-1-M] (M = Co, Zn and Cd) and that each exhibits transient porosity but switching events occur at different threshold pressures for CO2 (0.8, 2.1 and 15 mbar, for Co, Zn and Cd, respectively, at 195 K), H2O (10, 70 and 75% RH, for Co, Zn and Cd, respectively, at 300 K) and CH4 (<2, 10 and 25 bar, for Co, Zn and Cd, respectively, at 298 K). Insight into the phase changes is provided through in situ SCXRD and in situ PXRD. We attribute the tuning of gate-opening pressure to differences and changes in the metal coordination spheres and how they impact dpt ligand rotation. X-dmp-1-Zn and X-dmp-1-Cd join a small number of coordination networks (<10) that exhibit reversible switching for CH4 between 5 and 35 bar, a key requirement for adsorbed natural gas storage.

Considerations regarding the opportunity to continue using the sarmatian VII objective within the ZD structure an underground natural gas storage deposit

Considerations regarding the opportunity to continue using the sarmatian VII objective within the ZD structure an underground natural gas storage deposit

Investigation on the Long Term Operational Stability of Underground Energy Storage in Salt Rock

Underground energy storage is an important function of all energy supply systems, and especially concerning the seemingly eternal imbalance between production and demand. Salt rock underground energy storage, for one, is widely applied in both traditional and renewable energy fields; and this particular technique can be used to store natural gas, hydrogen, and compressed air. However, resource diversification and structural complexity make the supply system increasingly uncertain with the passing years, leading to great challenges for energy storage facilities in the present, and perhaps going into the future as well. Hence, it is necessary to research the operation stability of underground energy storage further. In this paper, a stability evaluation index system of Underground Gas Storage (UGS) is constructed with natural gas as the main medium, according to FLAC 3D cavity creep simulation software, along with fuzzy membership function to comprehensively determine the impact factor scoring model; the subjective weight is calculated based on the improved Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the objective weight is calculated by the Entropy Weight Method (EWM), the combined constant weight is obtained by combining the variance maximization theory, and introducing the variable weight theory to obtain a more accurate combined variable weight. Finally, with this all being considered and accounted for, and with the four different conditions designed for UGS deployment case analysis and verification taken into consideration, the combined variable weight evaluation achieved excellent results; compared with the traditional constant weight method, in fact, the new evaluation results are more rigorous and objective.

Contaminant Removal from Drilling Wastewater by Electrocoagulation Method

In this study, it is aimed to treat the wastewater from drilling operations during the creation of a natural gas storage area by electrocoagulation (EC) method. Boron and sulfate parameters in the wastewater were tried to be eliminated with the help of aluminum electrodes. During the removal of boron and sulfate pollutants, optimization studies were carried out on process time, pH, and current criteria. Boron (B) and sulfate (SO4) concentrations of wastewater generated during drilling were measured as 1.18 mg/L and 3348 mg/L, respectively. The samples taken after the purification work were placed in the measuring tapes and kept on hold for 24 hours. After the settling time, samples taken from the upper part were analyzed. During boron and sulfate removal, 16 mA/cm2 current, 30 min contact time, approximately 61% and 36% efficiency were obtained at 7 pH values.

Promising Hydrate Formation Promoters Based on Sodium Sulfosuccinates of Polyols

The use of natural gas as an energy source is increasing significantly due to its low greenhouse gas emissions. However, the common methods of natural gas storage and transportation, such as liquefied or compressed natural gas, are limited in their applications because they require extreme conditions. Gas hydrate technology can be a promising alternative to conventional approaches, as artificially synthesized hydrates provide an economical, environmentally friendly, and safe medium to store energy. Nevertheless, the low rate of hydrate formation is a critical problem that hinders the industrial application of this technology. Therefore, chemical promoters are being developed to accelerate the kinetics of gas hydrate formation. In this paper, the effect of new sodium sulfosuccinate compounds, synthesized based on glycerol and pentaerythritol, on methane hydrate formation was studied. Experiments under dynamic conditions using high-pressure autoclaves demonstrated that the conversion of water-to-hydrate forms increased from 62 ± 5% in pure water to 86 ± 4% for the best promoter at concentration 500 ppm. In addition, the rate of hydrate formation increases 2–4 times for different concentrations. Moreover, none of the synthesized reagents formed foam, compared to sodium dodecyl sulfate, in which the foam rate was 3.7 ± 0.2. The obtained reagents showed good promotional properties and did not form foam, which makes them promising promoters for gas hydrate technology.

Thermal management and optimization of the reactor geometry for adsorbed natural gas storage systems subjected to free convection and radiative environment

The present investigation explores the effects of the reactor geometry (i.e., the aspect ratio of cylindrical and annular reactors with and without fins, fin spacing, the aspect ratio of fins for finned reactors, and outer to inner diameter ratio for annular unfinned reactors) on the heat and mass transfer characteristics of the adsorbed natural gas storage system employing passive cooling techniques. The authors try to capture how the geometric modification changes the surrounding buoyancy-driven flow physics and improves the proposed novel reactor's storage performance. The study also considers surface radiation, which significantly improves the heat transfer rate, especially for the reactor with lower internal thermal resistance. An attempt is made to reduce the internal thermal resistance of the adsorbent bed by adding 10% graphite by mass and suitably modeling the bed's thermal conductivity and thermal capacity. The result shows that, in terms of adsorbed amount and heat transfer rate, the reactors with an aspect ratio (AR) of 7.8 outperform the other aspect ratios. The simultaneous effects of reactor aspect ratio and fins spacing on the heat transfer and adsorption rates are expounded, and the optimum fin spacing as a function of reactor aspect ratio and diameter ratio (i.e., fin diameter to reactor diameter) is obtained. The best annular reactor outperforms the cylindrical reactor with and without fin in terms of volumetric and gravimetric storage capacity. The annular finned reactor achieves a maximum 33% improvement in storage capacity compared to the adiabatic case and isothermal efficiency of 90%.

Reservoir characteristics and diagenesis of the Buntsandstein sandstones in the Campine Basin (NE Belgium)

The red beds of the Buntsandstein (Early Triassic) in the Campine Basin (NE Belgium) display porosities between 5.3–20.2% (average 13.7%) and permeabilities varying between 0.02–296.4 mD (average 38.7 mD). Knowledge of their reservoir controlling properties, which today are missing, is important in view of potential geological storage of CO2 or natural gas and geothermal reservoir potential within these sandstones. Therefore the effects of diagenesis were assessed based on petrography, stable isotope analyses, fluid inclusion microthermometry, X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe and porosity-permeability core analyses. These sandstones were deposited by a dryland river system, in a warm, mostly arid climate with episodic rainfall and high evaporation rates. During wetter periods especially feldspars were dissolved. Strong evaporation during dry periods led to reprecipitation of the dissolved species as K-feldspar and quartz overgrowths, smectite and calcite/dolomite. Sediment reworking resulted in framework grains becoming clay coated. The clay coats are better developed in finer than in coarser grained sediments. The original smectite composing the rims converted to illite during burial. The tangential orientation of the clay platelets in the rims led to illite-mica-induced dissolution of quartz during burial/compaction, which is manifested as bedding parallel dissolution seams that are filled with clays and micas, especially in the fine-grained sandstone/siltstone/claystone. These constitute important barriers to the vertical flow within the reservoir. The released silica did not really affect the red sandstones but was exported (often on mm to cm scale) to nearby bleached horizons, where nucleation inhibiting clay rims are less well developed. The red colour of the sandstones arises from the presence of small amounts of Fe-oxides in the inherited clay rims. Migration of fluids enriched in organic acids, expelled from underlying Carboniferous coal-bearing strata, resulted in local bleaching of coarser grained horizons. In the finer grained sediments, the red colour was mostly preserved, which suggests that the reductive capacity of the fluid was limited.

Review of the Monitoring Applications Involved in the Underground Storage of Natural Gas and CO2

Natural gas is an indispensable resource not evenly distributed in the world. The gas supply chain is characterized by large imbalances between supply and demand, where the underground gas storage (UGS) application plays a key role for creating strategic reserves, taking advantage of geological structures. On the contrary, human activities will require clean energy with near-zero greenhouse gas emissions to be environmentally viable. A key element of this strategy is the carbon capture and storage (CCS) application useful for confining CO2 into the geosphere to reduce anthropogenic emissions. The development of appropriate injection methods and long-term monitoring systems for leak detection of the underground storage of natural gas and CO2 is important to prevent negative effects, such as ground deformations and micro seismic events. In this work, a variety of monitoring applications were gathered and critically analyzed for a total of 60 scientific contributions spanning the world. This bibliographic work shows an analytical and statistical overview of the most common use of UGS and CCS, representing the different goals of these two applications and analyzing the main monitoring techniques used in the gathered contributions. Currently, UGS monitoring requires further development, especially through multidisciplinary approaches useful for identifying possible effects on the surface and gas leaks at depth; meanwhile, CCS solutions are still at the experimental stage, also because of the high costs for large-scale applications that still need specific research. The state of the art of these two very different practices can improve the further development of new monitoring approaches or additional methods.

Numerical Simulation Study on Deformation Characteristics of Surrounding Rock during Construction and Operation of Large Underground Gas Storage Structures

Underground gas storage is an important technical measure for future natural gas storage. The stability of the surrounding rock during excavation and under ultra-high gas storage pressure is the key to the stable operation of gas storage reservoirs. A numerical calculation model for different surrounding rock conditions, different depth-span ratios, and different buried depth conditions was conducted to study the stability of surrounding rock after large section underground gas storage excavation and under an ultra-high gas storage pressure of 20 MPa. The results show that after construction is completed, the deformation of the rock surrounding the cavern increases with a decrease in the surrounding rock grade, and the deformation of the rock surrounding the cavern increases as the burial depth increases. In addition, the maximum vertical deformation of the surrounding rock decreases with the increase in the depth-span ratio of the cavern, and the maximum horizontal displacement increases with the increase in the depth-to-span ratio. While operating at 20 MPa gas storage pressure, the displacement of the rock surrounding the chamber tends to increase with the decrease in the surrounding rock grade and the deformation of the surrounding rock of the chamber decreases as the burial depth increases. Furthermore, the vertical displacement of the rock surrounding the chamber decreases with the increase in the depth-span ratio, while the horizontal displacement of the surrounding rock increases with the increase in the depth-span ratio. Considering the stability of the surrounding rock during construction and operation, gas storage chambers should be built in areas with better conditions, such as Grade II and Grade III surrounding rocks within a burial depth range of 200 m. Moreover, the stability of the surrounding rocks is better when the chamber depth-span ratio is 2.5~3.0. These research results can provide a theoretical reference for the design of large underground gas storage structures.

Simulation of the inelastic deformation of porous reservoirs under cyclic loading relevant for underground hydrogen storage

Subsurface geological formations can be utilized to safely store large-scale (TWh) renewable energy in the form of green gases such as hydrogen. Successful implementation of this technology involves estimating feasible storage sites, including rigorous mechanical safety analyses. Geological formations are often highly heterogeneous and entail complex nonlinear inelastic rock deformation physics when utilized for cyclic energy storage. In this work, we present a novel scalable computational framework to analyse the impact of nonlinear deformation of porous reservoirs under cyclic loading. The proposed methodology includes three different time-dependent nonlinear constitutive models to appropriately describe the behavior of sandstone, shale rock and salt rock. These constitutive models are studied and benchmarked against both numerical and experimental results in the literature. An implicit time-integration scheme is developed to preserve the stability of the simulation. In order to ensure its scalability, the numerical strategy adopts a multiscale finite element formulation, in which coarse scale systems with locally-computed basis functions are constructed and solved. Further, the effect of heterogeneity on the results and estimation of deformation is analyzed. Lastly, the Bergermeer test case-an active Dutch natural gas storage field-is studied to investigate the influence of inelastic deformation on the uplift caused by cyclic injection and production of gas. The present study shows acceptable subsidence predictions in this field-scale test, once the properties of the finite element representative elementary volumes are tuned with the experimental data.

Mathematical Modeling of a Non-Isothermal Flow in a Porous Medium Considering Gas Hydrate Decomposition: A Review

Deposits of natural gas hydrates are some of the most promising sources of hydrocarbons. According to studies, at the current level of natural gas consumption, the traditional reserves will last for about 50 years, and the gas hydrate deposits will last for at least 250 years. Therefore, interest in the study of gas hydrates is associated first of all with gas production from gas hydrate deposits. Additionally, gas hydrates are widely studied for solving practical problems, such as transportation and storage of natural gas, utilization of industrial gases and environmental and technological disasters associated with gas hydrates. When solving practical problems related to gas hydrates, in addition to laboratory and field studies, mathematical modeling is also widely used. This article presents the mathematical models of non-isothermal flow in a porous medium considering the decomposition of gas hydrate. The general forms of the mass conservation equations, Darcy’s law and the energy conservation equation are given. The article also presents derivations of the equations for taking into account the latent heat of phase transitions and non-isothermal filtration parameters for the energy conservation equation. This may be useful for researchers to better understand the construction of the model. For the parameters included in the basic equations, various dependencies are used in different works. In all the articles found, most often there was an emphasis on one or two of the parameters. The main feature of this article is summarizing various dependencies for a large number of parameters. Additionally, graphs of these dependencies are presented so that the reader can independently evaluate the differences between them. The most preferred dependencies for calculations are noted and explained.

A novel method to store methane by forming hydrate in the high water-oil ratio emulsions

Natural gas (NG) storage in the form of clathrate hydrates gains much attention due to their non-explosive and eco-friendly characteristics. This study developed a novel method to store methane by forming hydrate in the high water cut (40–100 vol%) emulsions, in which an excellent anti-agglomerant (AA) cocamidopropyl dimethylamine (CDA) was employed in combination with sorbitan monododecanoate (Span 20). The CH4 storage achieved 151.1 v/vh (volume ratio of gas to hydrate, the theoretical value is 172 v/vh) in the 60 vol% systems within 60 min, which was significantly increased than the hydrate formation tests in the presence of single (Span 20, CDA) and combined additives (Span 20 coupled with tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB), fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether, N = 3 (AEO-3), l-tryptophan (L-Trp), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), respectively). The effect of CDA concentration, initial pressure and stirring speed on hydrate formation was investigated. The fastest hydrate growth lasted 20 min for the test with 1000 rpm and the CH4 storage attained 151.9 v/vh. The maximum gas uptake achieved 166.2 v/vh within 2 h for the test with 8.2 MPa. No foams were observed in hydrate dissociation and the tests can be repeatable.