Methane hydrate dissociation using inverted five-spot water flooding method in cubic hydrate simulator

Methane hydrate dissociation using inverted five-spot water flooding method in cubic hydrate simulator

Type	Journal Article
Author	Gang Li
Author	Xiao-Sen Li
URL	http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544213008645
Volume	64
Pages	298-306
Publication	Energy
Date	January 1, 2014
Abstract	The combination forms of the hydrate dissociation methods in different well systems are divided into 6 main patterns. Researchers studied dissociation processes of methane hydrate in porous media using the inverted five-spot water flooding method (Pattern 4) by the experimental observation and numerical simulation. They synthesized situ methane hydrate in the Cubic Hydrate Simulator (CHS), a 5.832-L cubic reactor. A center vertical well was employed as the hot water injection well. The four vertical wells at the corner are the gas and water production wells. The gas production begins simultaneously with the hot water injection, while after approximately 20 min of compression, the water begins to be produced. One of the common characteristics of the inverted five-spot water flooding method is that both the gas and water production rates decrease with the reduction of the hydrate dissociation rate. Evaluation of the energy efficiency ratio suggests the inverted five-spot water flooding as a promising gas producing method from the hydrate reservoir.