Experimental study and recognition of natural gas hydrate chemical reagent - CO2 exploitation

Abstract In order to solve the problems of slow replacement rate and low degree of substitution in the process of CO2 displacement by natural gas hydrate, a method of chemical reagent-CO2 displacement combined mining experiment was proposed. Taking the thermodynamic methanol inhibitor as an example, three groups of experiments were carried out: critical temperature pressure condition for CH4 decomposition at different methanol concentrations, CH4 hydrate decomposition under the condition of methanol reagent at 30% concentration, and methanol reagent-CO2 combined mining. Experiments show that: (1) The concentration of methanol plays a decisive role in hydrate recovery. Methanol reagent has the property of highly reducing the formation temperature of hydrate. Methanol solution concentration is positively correlated with the critical temperature drop of hydrate decomposition and formation pressure. (2) The methanol solution decomposition of hydrate can be roughly divided into three stages: the initial stage of rapid decomposition, the competitive stage of hydrate decomposition and stable transformation, and the stable stage of decomposition. Through experimental simulation, it is concluded that formation pressure is a direct factor affecting the decomposition ability of methanol reagent to hydrate. By changing formation pressure, the rate of CH4 hydrate recovery can be improved. (3) A higher hydrate decomposition rate can be obtained based on the methanol reagent-CO2 displacement mining method. In the action of the methanol reagent, the subsequent injection of CO2 still promotes the decomposition of CH4, that is, the displacement of CO2 hydrate after the decomposition of the hydrate based on the methanol reagent is feasible. The research results are of great significance especially for large-scale mine test mining of permafrost natural gas hydrate chemical reagent method.