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Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Methane Hydrate Geological Systems

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "H: Geo-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 March 2022) | Viewed by 19708

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Maria de la Fuente

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Guest Editor

BGeoSys, Department Geoscience, Environment & Society (DGES), Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Interests: methane hydrates; thermo‐hydro‐mechano‐chemical coupling processes; multiphase fluid flow; benthic methane sink; carbon–climate feedback; ocean acidification

Dr. Jean Vaunat

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: geotechnical engineering, constitutive and numerical modelling, radioactive waste management, methane hydrates, soil–vegetation– atmosphere interactions

Dr. Hector Marin Moreno

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Guest Editor

Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, PB 3930 Ullevål Stadion, N-0806 Oslo, Norway
Interests: energy resources; geohazards; CCUS; geomechanics; porous media flow
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The characteristics and dynamics of methane hydrate systems (such as the hydrate concentration and distribution, host‐sediment petrophysical properties, thermodynamic stability and methane–biosphere/hydrosphere/atmosphere interactions) are key for assessing energy production from hydrates and its role as a future transition fuel; evaluating the effect of the hydrates’ dissociation on the ocean floor stability, the Earth’s climate and ocean carbon cycles; and developing novel hydrate applications.

This Special Issue aims to gather recent studies on the experimental and numerical simulation of the thermo‐hydro‐chemo‐mechanical behavior of methane hydrate systems. The potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

Novel methods for characterizing methane hydrate systems (including the thermodynamics and kinetics of methane hydrates, multiphase transport dynamics and pore‐scale simulations of methane hydrate processes).
Experimental studies and physical simulations of the geomechanical properties of methane hydrate systems during hydrate dissociation, the CH₄–CO₂ exchange process and gas production.
The numerical modelling of methane hydrate systems at different scales (material, laboratory and field).
Pilot tests and field applications for methane hydrates (including gas production scenarios and hydrate applications for greenhouse gas mitigation and gas transport).
Hydrate‐sourced methane’s contribution to sediment and water column carbon cycling and climate change.
Environmental issues related to methane hydrate exploitation; effects on scenarios that tend to decarbonize the energy system.

Authors are invited to submit their papers before October 15th 2021. Do not hesitate to contact the guest editors for information about the suitability of the topic of the paper intended for publication.

Dr. Maria De La Fuente
Dr. Jean Vaunat
Dr Hector Marin‐Moreno
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Methane
Methane hydrate systems
Experimental simulations
Numerical modelling
Thermo‐hydro‐chemo‐mechanical coupled processes
Energy resource
Geomechanics
Geohazards
Environmental impact
Hydrate applications

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

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23 pages, 6012 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Geomechanical Model for Gas Hydrate Bearing Sediments Incorporating High Dilatancy, Temperature, and Rate Effects

by Bohan Zhou, Marcelo Sanchez, Luciano Oldecop and J. Carlos Santamarina

Energies 2022, 15(12), 4280; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15124280 - 10 Jun 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1836

Abstract

The geomechanical behavior of methane hydrate bearing sediments (MHBS) is influenced by many factors, including temperature, fluid pressure, hydrate saturation, stress level, and strain rate. The paper presents a visco-elastoplastic constitutive model for MHBS based on an elastoplastic model that incorporates the effect of hydrate saturation, stress history, and hydrate morphology on hydrate sediment response. The upgraded model is able to account for additional critical features of MHBS behavior, such as, high-dilatancy, temperature, and rate effects. The main components and the mathematical formulation of the new constitutive model are described in detail. The upgraded model is validated using published triaxial tests involving MHBS. The model agrees overly well with the experimental observations and is able to capture the main features associated with the behavior of MHBS. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Methane Hydrate Geological Systems)

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25 pages, 6711 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Gas Saturation and Gas Column Height at the Base of the Gas Hydrate Stability Zone on Fracturing and Seepage at Vestnesa Ridge, West-Svalbard Margin

by Hariharan Ramachandran, Andreia Plaza-Faverola and Hugh Daigle

Energies 2022, 15(9), 3156; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15093156 - 26 Apr 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1968

Abstract

The Vestnesa Ridge, located off the west Svalbard margin, is a >60 km long ridge consisting of fine-grained sediments that host a deep-marine gas hydrate and associated seepage system. Geological and geophysical observations indicate the predominance of vertical fluid expulsion through fractures with pockmarks expressed on the seafloor along the entire ridge. However, despite the apparent evidence for an extended free gas zone (FGZ) below the base of the gas hydrate stability zone (BGHSZ), present-day seafloor seepage has been confirmed only on the eastern half of the sedimentary ridge. In this study, we combine the relationships between aqueous phase pressure, capillary pressure, sediment clay fraction, porosity, and total stress to simulate how much gas is required to open preexisting fractures from the BGHSZ towards the seafloor. Data from four specific sites with different lithology and pressure regime along the ridge are used to constrain the simulations. Results demonstrate that fracturing is favored from the FGZ (with gas saturations < 0.1 and gas column heights < 15 m) towards the seafloor. Neglecting the capillary pressure overpredicts the size of the gas column by up to 10 times, leading to erroneous maximum gas vent volume predictions and associated ocean biosphere consequences. Further parametric analyses indicate that variations in the regional stress regime have the potential to modify the fracture criterion, thus driving the differences in venting across the ridge. Our results are in line with independent geophysical observations and petroleum system modeling in the study area, adding confidence to the proposed approach and highlighting the importance of the capillary pressure influence on gas pressure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Methane Hydrate Geological Systems)

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27 pages, 4468 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Simulation of Hydrate Formation in the LArge-Scale Reservoir Simulator (LARS)

by Zhen Li, Erik Spangenberg, Judith M. Schicks and Thomas Kempka

Energies 2022, 15(6), 1974; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15061974 - 08 Mar 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1874

Abstract

The LArge-scale Reservoir Simulator (LARS) has been previously developed to study hydrate dissociation in hydrate-bearing systems under in-situ conditions. In the present study, a numerical framework of equations of state describing hydrate formation at equilibrium conditions has been elaborated and integrated with a numerical flow and transport simulator to investigate a multi-stage hydrate formation experiment undertaken in LARS. A verification of the implemented modeling framework has been carried out by benchmarking it against another established numerical code. Three-dimensional (3D) model calibration has been performed based on laboratory data available from temperature sensors, fluid sampling, and electrical resistivity tomography. The simulation results demonstrate that temperature profiles, spatial hydrate distribution, and bulk hydrate saturation are consistent with the observations. Furthermore, our numerical framework can be applied to calibrate geophysical measurements, optimize post-processing workflows for monitoring data, improve the design of hydrate formation experiments, and investigate the temporal evolution of sub-permafrost methane hydrate reservoirs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Methane Hydrate Geological Systems)

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21 pages, 3332 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study of the Critical Pore Radius That Results in Critical Gas Saturation during Methane Hydrate Dissociation at the Single-Pore Scale: Analytical Solutions for Small Pores and Potential Implications to Methane Production from Geological Media

by Ioannis Nikolaos Tsimpanogiannis, Emmanuel Stamatakis and Athanasios Konstantinos Stubos

Energies 2022, 15(1), 210; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15010210 - 29 Dec 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1396

Abstract

We examine the critical pore radius that results in critical gas saturation during pure methane hydrate dissociation within geologic porous media. Critical gas saturation is defined as the fraction of gas volume inside a pore system when the methane gas phase spans the system. Analytical solutions for the critical pore radii are obtained for two, simple pore systems consisting of either a single pore-body or a single pore-body connected with a number of pore-throats. Further, we obtain critical values for pore sizes above which the production of methane gas is possible. Results shown in the current study correspond to the case when the depression of the dissociation temperature (due to the presence of small-sized pores; namely, with a pore radius of less than 100 nm) is considered. The temperature shift due to confinement in porous media is estimated through the well-known Gibbs-Thompson equation. The particular results are of interest to geological media and particularly in the methane production from the dissociation of natural hydrate deposits within off-shore oceanic or on-shore permafrost locations. It is found that the contribution of the depression of the dissociation temperature on the calculated values of the critical pore sizes for gas production is limited to less than 10% when compared to our earlier study where the porous media effects have been ignored. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Methane Hydrate Geological Systems)

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28 pages, 5862 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Chemically Influenced Self-Preservation Kinetics of CH₄ Hydrates below the Sub-Zero Temperature

by Jyoti Shanker Pandey, Saad Khan and Nicolas von Solms

Energies 2021, 14(20), 6765; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14206765 - 17 Oct 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1619

Abstract

The self-preservation property of CH₄ hydrates is beneficial for the transportation and storage of natural gas in the form of gas hydrates. Few studies have been conducted on the effects of chemicals (kinetic and thermodynamic promoters) on the self-preservation properties of CH₄ hydrates, and most of the available literature is limited to pure water. The novelty of this work is that we have studied and compared the kinetics of CH₄ hydrate formation in the presence of amino acids (hydrophobic and hydrophilic) when the temperature dropped below 0 °C. Furthermore, we also investigated the self-preservation of CH₄ hydrate in the presence of amino acids. The main results are: (1) At T < 0 ℃, the formation kinetics and the total gas uptake improved in the presence of histidine (hydrophilic) at concentrations greater than 3000 ppm, but no significant change was observed for methionine (hydrophobic), confirming the improvement in the formation kinetics (for hydrophilic amino acids) due to increased subcooling; (2) At T = −2 °C, the presence of amino acids improved the metastability of CH₄ hydrate. Increasing the concentration from 3000 to 20,000 ppm enhanced the metastability of CH₄ hydrate; (3) Metastability was stronger in the presence of methionine compared to histidine; (4) This study provides experimental evidence for the use of amino acids as CH₄ hydrate stabilizers for the storage and transportation of natural gas due to faster formation kinetics, no foam during dissociation, and stronger self-preservation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Methane Hydrate Geological Systems)

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10 pages, 3165 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Forecast of Distribution and Thickness of Gas Hydrate Stability Zone at the Bottom of the Caspian Sea

by Vasily Bogoyavlensky, Alisa Yanchevskaya and Aleksei Kishankov

Energies 2021, 14(19), 6019; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14196019 - 22 Sep 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1566

Abstract

The Caspian Sea is a region of active hydrocarbon production, where apart from conventional accumulations, gas hydrates (GH) are known to exist. GH are a potential future source of energy, however, currently they pose danger for development of conventional fields. The goal of this research was to determine the area of GH distribution and thickness of their stability zone in the Caspian Sea using numerical modeling and to define how certain parameters affect the calculated thickness. As a result of the research, cartographic schemes were created for the South and Middle Caspian, where GH were predicted. For the South Caspian, conditions for methane hydrates formation exist at depths of more than 419–454 m, and for the Middle Caspian, more than 416–453 m. The maximal thicknesses of methane hydrates stability zones for the South Caspian can reach 900–956 m, and for the Middle Caspian, 226–676 m. Variations of parameters of seafloor depth, geothermal gradient and gas composition can significantly change the resulting thickness of GH stability zone. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Methane Hydrate Geological Systems)

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21 pages, 7537 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combining Optical Microscopy and X-ray Computed Tomography Reveals Novel Morphologies and Growth Processes of Methane Hydrate in Sand Pores

by Thi Xiu Le, Michel Bornert, Ross Brown, Patrick Aimedieu, Daniel Broseta, Baptiste Chabot, Andrew King and Anh Minh Tang

Energies 2021, 14(18), 5672; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14185672 - 09 Sep 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1616

Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms involved in the formation and growth of methane hydrate in marine sandy sediments is crucial for investigating the thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of gas hydrate marine sediments. In this study, high-resolution optical microscopy and synchrotron X-ray computed tomography were used together to observe methane hydrate growing under excess gas conditions in a coarse sandy sediment. The high spatial and complementary temporal resolutions of these techniques allow growth processes and accompanying redistribution of water or brine to be observed over spatial scales down to the micrometre—i.e., well below pore size—and temporal scales below 1 s. Gas hydrate morphological and growth features that cannot be identified by X-ray computed tomography alone, such as hollow filaments, were revealed. These filaments sprouted from hydrate crusts at water–gas interfaces as water was being transported from their interior to their tips in the gas (methane), which extend in the µm/s range. Haines jumps are visualized when the growing hydrate crust hits a water pool, such as capillary bridges between grains or liquid droplets sitting on the substrate—a capillary-driven mechanism that has some analogy with cryogenic suction in water-bearing freezing soils. These features cannot be accounted for by the hydrate pore habit models proposed about two decades ago, which, in the absence of any observation at pore scale, were indeed useful for constructing mechanical and petrophysical models of gas hydrate-bearing sediments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Methane Hydrate Geological Systems)

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17 pages, 4878 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Dynamic Modeling Approach to Predict Microbial Methane Generation and Consumption in Marine Sediments

by Mahboubeh Rahmati-Abkenar, Milad Alizadeh and Marcelo Ketzer

Energies 2021, 14(18), 5671; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14185671 - 09 Sep 2021

Viewed by 1667

Abstract

Methane, as a clean energy source and a potent greenhouse gas, is produced in marine sediments by microbes via complex biogeochemical processes associated with the mineralization of organic matter. Quantitative modeling of biogeochemical processes is a crucial way to advance the understanding of the global carbon cycle and the past, present, and future of climate change. Here, we present a new approach of dynamic transport-reaction model combined with sediment deposition. Compared to other studies, since the model does not need the methane concentration in the bottom of sediments and predicts that value, it provides us with a robust carbon budget estimation tool in the sediment. We applied the model to the Blake Ridge region (Ocean Drilling Program, Leg 164, site 997). Based on seafloor data as input, our model remarkably reproduces measured values of total organic carbon, dissolved inorganic carbon, sulfate, calcium, and magnesium concentration in pore waters and the in situ methane presented in three phases: dissolved in pore water, trapped in gas hydrate, and as free gas. Kinetically, we examined the coexistence of free gas and hydrate, and demonstrated how it might affect methane gas migration in marine sediment within the gas hydrate stability zone. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Methane Hydrate Geological Systems)

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18 pages, 1044 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modelling Methane Hydrate Saturation in Pores: Capillary Inhibition Effects

by Maria De La Fuente, Jean Vaunat and Héctor Marín-Moreno

Energies 2021, 14(18), 5627; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14185627 - 07 Sep 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1933

Abstract

Experimental and field observations evidence the effects of capillarity in narrow pores on inhibiting the thermodynamic stability of gas hydrates and controlling their saturation. Thus, precise estimates of the gas hydrate global inventory require models that accurately describe gas hydrate stability in sediments. Here, an equilibrium model for hydrate formation in sediments that accounts for capillary inhibition effects is developed and validated against experimental data. Analogous to water freezing in pores, the model assumes that hydrate formation is controlled by the sediment pore size distribution and the balance of capillary forces at the hydrate–liquid interface. To build the formulation, we first derive the Clausius–Clapeyron equation for the thermodynamic equilibrium of methane and water chemical potentials. Then, this equation is combined with the van Genuchten’s capillary pressure to relate the thermodynamic properties of the system to the sediment pore size distribution and hydrate saturation. The model examines the influence of the sediment pore size distribution on hydrate saturation through the simulation of hydrate formation in sand, silt, and clays, under equilibrium conditions and without mass transfer limitations. The results show that at pressure–temperature conditions typically found in the seabed, capillary effects in very fine-grained clays can limit the maximum hydrate saturation below 20% of the host sediment porosity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Methane Hydrate Geological Systems)

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Review

Jump to: Research

32 pages, 2387 KiB

Open AccessReview

Assessing the Benthic Response to Climate-Driven Methane Hydrate Destabilisation: State of the Art and Future Modelling Perspectives

by Maria De La Fuente, Sandra Arndt, Héctor Marín-Moreno and Tim A. Minshull

Energies 2022, 15(9), 3307; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15093307 - 01 May 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2668

Abstract

Modern observations and geological records suggest that anthropogenic ocean warming could destabilise marine methane hydrate, resulting in methane release from the seafloor to the ocean-atmosphere, and potentially triggering a positive feedback on global temperature. On the decadal to millennial timescales over which hydrate-sourced methane release is hypothesized to occur, several processes consuming methane below and above the seafloor have the potential to slow, reduce or even prevent such release. Yet, the modulating effect of these processes on seafloor methane emissions remains poorly quantified, and the full impact of benthic methane consumption on ocean carbon chemistry is still to be explored. In this review, we document the dynamic interplay between hydrate thermodynamics, benthic transport and biogeochemical reaction processes, that ultimately determines the impact of hydrate destabilisation on seafloor methane emissions and the ocean carbon cycle. Then, we provide an overview of how state-of-the-art numerical models treat such processes and examine their ability to quantify hydrate-sourced methane emissions from the seafloor, as well as their impact on benthic biogeochemical cycling. We discuss the limitations of current models in coupling the dynamic interplay between hydrate thermodynamics and the different reaction and transport processes that control the efficiency of the benthic sink, and highlight their shortcoming in assessing the full implication of methane release on ocean carbon cycling. Finally, we recommend that current Earth system models explicitly account for hydrate driven benthic-pelagic exchange fluxes to capture potential hydrate-carbon cycle-climate feed-backs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Methane Hydrate Geological Systems)

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