Environmentally Friendly Production of Energy from Natural Gas Hydrates

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2025 | Viewed by 678

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Energy Science and Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, 454000, China.
Interests: Natural gas hydrate; CCUS; Wellbore stability; Sand Production

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Engineering, China University of Petroleum-Beijing at Karamay, Karamay, 834000, China.
Interests: CCU; Natural gas hydrate; Shale gas; Hydraulic Fracturing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural gas is considered a clean energy source that enables human society to transition from a fossil fuel-dominated phase to a sustainable and renewable energy-dominated phase. Fortunately, natural gas hydrates could become an important source of natural gas in the near future. It was estimated that the global reserves of natural gas hydrates are as high as 3 × 1015 m3, which is about double the reserves of conventional fossil fuels (such as oil, gas, and coal). In the stable structure of gas hydrate, natural gas is firmly fixed in the center of the cage structure that is composed of water molecules. Once its stable state is disturbed, natural gas escapes from the cage structure, allowing it to be extracted and utilized. At present, the commonly used development strategies mainly include depressurization, thermal stimulation, inhibitor injection, and CO2 replacement. Unfortunately, there will be many environmental challenges during its long-term development process using these strategies. For example, inhibitors injected into hydrate-bearing sediments can contaminate pore fluids and cause damage to the reservoir. Therefore, exploring strategies for producing energy from natural gas hydrates in an environmentally friendly and efficient manner has become particularly important.

This Special Issue on “Environmentally Friendly Production of Energy from Natural Gas Hydrates” seeks high-quality research focusing on environmentally friendly production strategies for natural gas hydrates. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) Impact of hydrate development on the environment and ecology, including analysis of engineering geological issues, methane leakage, reservoir damage, and contamination by chemical reagents.
(2) Development of environmentally friendly chemicals for hydrate development, such as drilling fluid additives, fracturing fluid additives, and various inhibitors.
(3) Application of industrial waste (such as power plant flue gas and waste heat) or low-quality energy (such as geothermal energy) in the efficient development of hydrates.
(4) Economic and technical evaluation of various environmentally friendly production strategies for natural gas hydrates.

Dr. Qingchao Li
Dr. Qiang Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • natural gas hydrate
  • production strategy
  • additives
  • inhibitors
  • wellbore stability
  • sand production
  • reservoir damage
  • geothermal
  • economic and technical evaluation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 3088 KiB  
Article
The Carrying Behavior of Water-Based Fracturing Fluid in Shale Reservoir Fractures and Molecular Dynamics of Sand-Carrying Mechanism
by Qiang Li, Qingchao Li, Fuling Wang, Jingjuan Wu and Yanling Wang
Processes 2024, 12(9), 2051; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12092051 - 23 Sep 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 481
Abstract
Water-based fracturing fluid has recently garnered increasing attention as an alternative oilfield working fluid for propagating reservoir fractures and transporting sand. However, the low temperature resistance and stability of water-based fracturing fluid is a significant limitation, restricting the fracture propagation and gravel transport. [...] Read more.
Water-based fracturing fluid has recently garnered increasing attention as an alternative oilfield working fluid for propagating reservoir fractures and transporting sand. However, the low temperature resistance and stability of water-based fracturing fluid is a significant limitation, restricting the fracture propagation and gravel transport. To effectively ameliorate the temperature resistance and sand-carrying capacity, a modified cross-linker with properties adaptable to varying reservoir conditions and functional groups was synthesized and chemically characterized. Meanwhile, a multifunctional collaborative progressive evaluation device was developed to investigate the rheology and sand-carrying capacity of fracturing fluid. Utilizing molecular dynamics simulations, the thickening mechanism of the modified cross-linker and the sand-carrying mechanism of the fracturing fluid were elucidated. Results indicate that the designed cross-linker provided a high viscosity stability of 130 mPa·s and an excellent sand-carrying capacity of 15 cm2 at 0.3 wt% cross-linker content. Additionally, increasing reservoir pressure exhibited enhanced thickening and sand-carrying capacities. However, a significant inverse relationship was observed between reservoir temperature and sand-carrying capacity, attributed to changes in the drag coefficient and thickener adsorption. These results verified the effectiveness of the cross-linker in enhancing fluid viscosity and sand-carrying capacity as a modified cross-linker for water-based fracturing fluid. Full article
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