Numerical Simulation of Methane Hydrate Dissociation in Glass Micro Channels by Depressurization

Methane hydrate has been paid considerable attention on how to exploit it by efficient and economical methods. A computer modeling approach was used to obtain more detail information during the process of methane hydrate decomposition. A comprehensive Users’ Defined Subroutine (UDS) was used in the FLUENT code to model the methane hydrate dissociation by depressurization. The kinetic model and equilibrium condition were contained in the UDS. The new UDS can model the heat and mass transfer during the decomposition process of methane hydrate. The behavior of the methane hydrate decomposition process in both laboratory-scale simulation and micro channels simulation was investigated in this paper. The laboratory-scale simulation results were compared with ones of the laboratory-scale system studied by Masuda et al. to verify the UDS. Evolutions of methane gas, water and hydrate in the cross micro channels were obtained. The phenomenon of water freezing was predicted by comparing the water temperature and freezing temperature. The results also showed that the dissociation process of gas hydrates as well as the water freezing phenomenon occur not only in the interface between hydrate layer and production zone, but also deep in the hydrate zone.