SCI和EI收录∣中国化工学会会刊

中国化学工程学报 ›› 2019, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (9): 2133-2147.DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2019.02.028

• Special Issue on Natural Gas Hydrate • 上一篇    下一篇

The status of exploitation techniques of natural gas hydrate

Lei Yang1, Yulong Liu1, Hanquan Zhang2, Bo Xiao2, Xianwei Guo1, Rupeng Wei1, Lei Xu1, Lingjie Sun1, Bin Yu3, Shudong Leng3, Yanghui Li1   

  1. 1 Key Laboratory of Ocean Energy Utilization and Energy Conservation of Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China;
    2 Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, Guangzhou 510075, China;
    3 China Ship Design & Research Center Co., Ltd., Dalian 116001, China
  • 收稿日期:2018-11-20 修回日期:2019-02-08 出版日期:2019-09-28 发布日期:2019-12-04
  • 通讯作者: Yanghui Li
  • 基金资助:
    Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51622603, 51806027 and 51890911), the Major Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (51436003), and the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0307300, 2016YFC0304001).

The status of exploitation techniques of natural gas hydrate

Lei Yang1, Yulong Liu1, Hanquan Zhang2, Bo Xiao2, Xianwei Guo1, Rupeng Wei1, Lei Xu1, Lingjie Sun1, Bin Yu3, Shudong Leng3, Yanghui Li1   

  1. 1 Key Laboratory of Ocean Energy Utilization and Energy Conservation of Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China;
    2 Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, Guangzhou 510075, China;
    3 China Ship Design & Research Center Co., Ltd., Dalian 116001, China
  • Received:2018-11-20 Revised:2019-02-08 Online:2019-09-28 Published:2019-12-04
  • Contact: Yanghui Li
  • Supported by:
    Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51622603, 51806027 and 51890911), the Major Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (51436003), and the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0307300, 2016YFC0304001).

摘要: Natural gas hydrate (NGH) has been widely considered as an alternative form of energy with huge potential, due to its tremendous reserves, cleanness and high energy density. Several countries involving Japan, Canada, India and China have launched national projects on the exploration and exploitation of gas hydrate resources. At the beginning of this century, an early trial production of hydrate resources was carried out in Mallik permafrost region, Canada. Japan has conducted the first field test from marine hydrates in 2013, followed by another trial in 2017. China also made its first trial production from marine hydrate sediments in 2017. Yet the low production efficiency, ice/hydrate regeneration, and sand problems are still commonly encountered; the worldwide progress is far before commercialization. Up to now, many gas production techniques have been proposed, and a few of them have been adopted in the field production tests. Nevertheless, hardly any method appears really promising; each of them shows limitations at certain conditions. Therefore, further efforts should be made on the economic efficiency as well as sustainability and environmental impacts. In this paper, the investigations on NGH exploitation techniques are comprehensively reviewed, involving depressurization, thermal stimulation, chemical inhibitor injection, CO2-CH4 exchange, their combinations, and some novel techniques. The behavior of each method and its further potential in the field test are discussed. The advantages and limitations of laboratory studies are also analyzed. The work could give some guidance in the future formulation of exploitation scheme and evaluation of gas production behavior from hydrate reservoirs.

关键词: Natural gas hydrate, Production technique, Depressurization, Thermal stimulation, CO2 exchange

Abstract: Natural gas hydrate (NGH) has been widely considered as an alternative form of energy with huge potential, due to its tremendous reserves, cleanness and high energy density. Several countries involving Japan, Canada, India and China have launched national projects on the exploration and exploitation of gas hydrate resources. At the beginning of this century, an early trial production of hydrate resources was carried out in Mallik permafrost region, Canada. Japan has conducted the first field test from marine hydrates in 2013, followed by another trial in 2017. China also made its first trial production from marine hydrate sediments in 2017. Yet the low production efficiency, ice/hydrate regeneration, and sand problems are still commonly encountered; the worldwide progress is far before commercialization. Up to now, many gas production techniques have been proposed, and a few of them have been adopted in the field production tests. Nevertheless, hardly any method appears really promising; each of them shows limitations at certain conditions. Therefore, further efforts should be made on the economic efficiency as well as sustainability and environmental impacts. In this paper, the investigations on NGH exploitation techniques are comprehensively reviewed, involving depressurization, thermal stimulation, chemical inhibitor injection, CO2-CH4 exchange, their combinations, and some novel techniques. The behavior of each method and its further potential in the field test are discussed. The advantages and limitations of laboratory studies are also analyzed. The work could give some guidance in the future formulation of exploitation scheme and evaluation of gas production behavior from hydrate reservoirs.

Key words: Natural gas hydrate, Production technique, Depressurization, Thermal stimulation, CO2 exchange