DGGV-E-Publikationen

Titel: Simulation study of hydrate formation from dissolved methane in the LArge-scale Reservoir Simulator (LARS)

Autoren:
Zhen Li1,2, Thomas Kempka1,2, Erik Spangenberg1, Judith Schicks1,2

Institutionen:
1Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, , Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany; 2University of Potsdam, Institute of Geosciences, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany

Veranstaltung: GeoKarlsruhe 2021

Datum: 2021

DOI: 10.48380/dggv-qgys-5045

Zusammenfassung:
Hydrate formation from dissolved methane in saline solutions is a hydrochemical process, resulting in the accumulation of gas hydrates in sedimentary strata under the seafloor or overlain by permafrost regions. In the scope of the SUGAR framework, LARS has been established to study gas hydrate formation processes and dissociation strategies under in-situ conditions. In the latest hydrate formation experiments, key parameters have been applied to mimic the local marine environment of the Mallik site, Canada. LARS was equipped with temperature sensors and an electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) array for these tests to monitor the dynamic temperature changes and spatial hydrate distribution. Numerical simulation on the hydrate formation process in LARS has not yet been successfully conducted, so that the equations of state relevant to describe equilibrium hydrate formation from dissolved methane have been implemented into a numerical framework and integrated with the TRANsport Simulation Environment to study and quantify the temporal of CH4-hydrate formation in our present study. We present our model implementation, its verification against HydrateResSim and the findings of the model calibration and validation against the temperature and ERT data from the corresponding hydrate formation experiment. The simulation results demonstrate that our numerical implementation can reproduce the spatial temperature distribution and hydrate formation processes in LARS. Furthermore, spatial hydrate distribution is in good agreement with that produced by ERT measurements undertaken during experiment. Consequently, our numerical simulation framework can be applied for the design of new experiments and to investigate hydrate formation in representative geological settings.