Methane hydrate research at NETL: Research to make methane production from hydrates a reality

Research is underway at NETL to understand the physical properties of methane hydrates. Five key areas of research that need further investigation have been identified. These five areas, i.e. thermal properties of hydrates in sediments, kinetics of natural hydrate dissociation, hysteresis effects, permeability of sediments to gas flow and capillary pressures within sediments, and hydrate distribution at porous scale, are important to the production models that will be used for producing methane from hydrate deposits. NETL is using both laboratory experiments and computational modeling to address these five key areas. The laboratory and computational research reinforce each other by providing feedback. The laboratory results are used in the computational models and the results from the computational modeling is used to help direct future laboratory research. The data generated at NETL will be used to help fulfill The National Methane Hydrate R&D Program of a “long-term supply of natural gas by developing the knowledge and technology base to allow commercial production of methane from domestic hydrate deposits by the year 2015” as outlined on the NETL Website [NETL Website, 2005. http://www.netl.doe.gov/scngo/Natural%20Gas/hydrates/index.html].Laboratory research is accomplished in one of the numerous high-pressure hydrate cells available ranging in size from 0.15 mL to 15 L in volume. A dedicated high-pressure view cell within the Raman spectrometer allows for monitoring the formation and dissociation of hydrates. Thermal conductivity of hydrates (synthetic and natural) at a certain temperature and pressure is performed in a NETL-designed cell.Computational modeling studies are investigating the kinetics of hydrate formation and dissociation, modeling methane hydrate reservoirs, molecular dynamics simulations of hydrate formation, dissociation, and thermal properties, and Monte Carlo simulations of hydrate formation and dissociation.