Mathematical model development of hydrate formation process intensification based on the results of experimental studies

The paper proposes a mathematical model describing the process of the hydrate formation in a vertical pipeline through which the gas is transported from the dome-separator designed to eliminate a technogenic spill of oil from the well at the seabed. If the dome is located in the zone of stable hydrate existence, then hydrate deposits can form within and in the pipeline, which can lead to the pipeline clogging. The influence of the presence of a pipeline insulation coating, which consists of the layers of polyurethane and polyurethane foam, and its thickness on the hydrate formation process in a steel pipeline is studied on the basis of numerical modeling. It is shown that if the gas is derived from the dome located at a depth of 1500 m, the zone of hydrate deposits is formed at the inlet of the pipeline without insulation (in the dome-separator vicinity). When the thermal insulation of the pipeline is used, it leads to an upward shift of the hydrate formation conditions. As a result, depending on the thickness of the insulation coating, the zone of hydrate deposits is formed near the outlet of the pipeline (in the ocean surface vicinity) or no hydrates are formed in the pipe. It is also shown that the motion of the seawater around the pipeline has almost no effect on the process of hydrate formation within the pipe.

Download Full-text

Numerical Flow Analysis of Hydrate Formation in Offshore Pipelines Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Volume 8: Polar and Arctic Sciences and Technology; Petroleum Technology ◽

10.1115/omae2016-54534 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Eugenio Turco Neto ◽

M. A. Rahman ◽

Syed Imtiaz ◽

Salim Ahmed

Keyword(s):

Fluid Dynamics ◽

Mass Transfer ◽

Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽

Reaction Kinetics ◽

Formation Process ◽

Formation Rate ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Hydrate Formation ◽

Computational Fluid Dynamics Cfd ◽

Hydrate Formation Process

Hydrate formation is one of the major challenges faced by the Oil and Gas industry in offshore facilities due to its potential to plug wells and reduce production. Several experimental studies have been published so far in order to understand the mechanisms that govern the hydrate formation process under its thermodynamic favorable conditions; however, the results are not very accurate due to the uncertainties related to measurements and metastable behavior observed in some cases involving hydrate formation. Moreover, thermodynamic models have been proposed to overcome the latter constraints but they are formulated assuming thermodynamic equilibrium, which such condition is difficult to be achieved in flow systems due to the turbulence effects. Due to the low solubility of methane in water, the mass transfer effects can possibly control several mechanisms that are still unknown about the hydrate formation process. Also, the reaction kinetics plays a major rule in minimizing hydrate formation rate. The objective of this work is to develop a mechanistic Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model in order to predict the formation of hydrate particles along the pipeline from a hydrate-free gas dominated stream constituted by methane and water only. The transient simulations were performed using a commercial CFD software package considering the multiphase hydrate chemical reaction and mass transfer resistances. The geometry used was a straight pipe with 5 m length and 0.0254 m diameter. The results have shown the appearance of regions in the pipeline at which hydrate formation is controlled either by the mass transfer or reaction kinetics. The rate of hydrate formation profile has shown to be high at the inlet even though the temperature at that regions was high, which can be a possible explanation for metastable region encountered in most of recent phase diagrams.

Download Full-text