Growth behavior and resource potential evaluation of gas hydrate in core fractures in Qilian Mountain permafrost area, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The Qilian Mountain permafrost area located in the northern of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a favorable place for natural gas hydrate formation and enrichment,due to its well-developed fractures and abundant gas sources.Understanding the formation and distribution of multi-component gas hydrates in fractures is crucial in accurately evaluating the hydrate reservoir resources in this area.The hydrate formation experiments were carried out using the core samples drilled from hydrate-bearing sediments in Qilian Mountain permafrost area and the multi-component gas with similar composition to natural gas hydrates in Qilian Mountain permafrost area.The formation and distribution characteristics of multi-component gas hydrates in core samples were observed in situ by X-ray Computed Tomography(X-CT)under high pressure and low temperature conditions.Results show that hydrates are mainly formed and distributed in the fractures with good connectivity.The ratios of volume of hydrates formed in fractures to the volume of fractures are about 96.8%and 60.67%in two different core samples.This indicates that the fracture surface may act as a favorable reaction site for hydrate formation in core samples.Based on the field geological data and the experimental results,it is preliminarily estimated that the inventory of methane stored in the fractured gas hydrate in Qilian Mountain permafrost area is about 8.67×1013 m3,with a resource abundance of 8.67×108 m3/km2.This study demonstrates the great resource potential of fractured gas hydrate and also provides a new way to further understand the prospect of natural gas hydrate and other oil and gas resources in Qilian Mountain permafrost area.

A sand-production control system for gas production from clayey silt hydrate reservoirs

Sand production is a crucial problem during the process of extracting natural gas from hydrate reservoirs. To deal with sand-production problems systematically, a sand-production control system (SCS) is first proposed in this paper, specialized for pore-distributed clayey silt hydrate reservoirs. Secondly, a nodal system analysis method (NSAM) is applied to analyze the sand migration process during hydrate exploitation. The SCS is divided into three sub-systems, according to different sand migration mechanisms, and three key scientific problems and advances in SCS research in China Geological Survey are reviewed and analyzed. The maximum formation sanding rate, proper sand-control gravel size, and borehole blockage risk position were provided for clayey hydrate exploitation wells based on the SCS analysis. The SCS sub-systems are closely connected via bilateral coupling, and coordination of the subsystems is the basis of maintaining formation stability and prolonging the gas production cycle. Therefore, contradictory mitigation measures between sand production and operational systems should be considered preferentially. Some novel and efficient hydrate exploitation methods are needed to completely solve the contradictions caused by sand production.

Experimental simulations and methods for natural gas hydrate analysis in China

This paper provides an overview of the developments in analytical and testing methods and experimental simulations on gas hydrate in China.In the laboratory,the analyses and experiments of gas hydrate can provide useful parameters for hydrate exploration and exploitation.In recent years,modem analytical instruments and techniques,including Laser Raman spectroscopy (Raman),X-ray diffraction (XRD),X-ray computed tomography (X-CT),scanning electron microscope (SEM),nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and high pressure differential scanning calorimetry (DSC),were applied in the study of structure,formation mechanisms,phase equilibrium,thermal physical properties and so forth of gas hydrates.The detection technology and time-domain reflectometry (TDR)technique are integrated to the experimental devices to study the physical parameters of gas hydrates,such as the acoustics,resistivity,thermal,and mechanical properties.It is believed that the various analytical techniques together with the experimental simulations from large-scale to micro-scale on gas hydrate will play a significant role and provide a powerful support for future gas hydrate researches.

Experimental study on characteristics of pore water conversion during methane hydrates formation in unsaturated sand

Understanding the pore water conversion characteristics during hydrate formation in porous media is important to study the accumulation mechanism of marine gas hydrate.In this study,low-field NMR was used to study the pore water conversion characteristics during methane hydrate formation in unsaturated sand samples.Results show that the signal intensity of T_(2) distribution isn’t affected by sediment type and pore pressure,but is affected by temperature.The increase in the pressure of hydrogen-containing gas can cause the increase in the signal intensity of T_(2) distribution.The heterogeneity of pore structure is aggravated due to the hydrate formation in porous media.The water conversion rate fluctuates during the hydrate formation.The sand size affects the water conversion ratio and rate by affecting the specific surface of sand in unsaturated porous media.For the fine sand sample,the large specific surface causes a large gas-water contact area resulting in a higher water conversion rate,but causes a large water-sand contact area resulting in a low water conversion ratio(C_(w)=96.2%).The clay can reduce the water conversion rate and ratio,especially montmorillonite(C_(w)=95.8%).The crystal layer of montmorillonite affects the pore water conversion characteristics by hindering the conversion of interlayer water.

Evaluation of clayed silt properties on the behavior of hydrate production in South China Sea

Gas hydrate is one kind of potential energy resources that is buried under deep seafloor or frozen areas.The first trial offshore production from the silty reservoir was conducted in the South China Sea by the China Geological Survey(CGS).During this test,there were many unique characteristics different from the sand reservoir,which was believed to be related to the clayed silt physical properties.In this paper,simulation experiments,facilities analysis,and theoretical calculation were used to confirm the hydrate structure,reservoir thermo-physical property,and bond water movement rule.And the behavior of how they affected production efficiency was analyzed.The results showed that:It was reasonable to use the structure I rather than structure II methane hydrate phase equilibrium data to make the production plan;the dissociation heat absorbed by hydrate was large enough to cause hydrate self-protection or reformation depend on the reservoir thermal transfer and gas supply;clayed silt got better thermal conductivity compared to coarse grain,but poor thermal convection especially with hydrate;clayed silt sediment was easy to bond water,but the irreducible water can be exchanged to free water under high production pressure,and the most obvious pressure range of water increment was 1.9–4.9 MPa.

Origin of natural sulfur-metal chimney in the Tangyin hydrothermal field,Okinawa Trough:constraints from rare earth element and sulfur isotopic compositions

For the first time,we present the rare earth element (REE)and sulfur isotopic composition of hydrothermal precipitates recovered from the Tangyin hydrothermal field (THF),Okinawa Trough at a water depth of 1206 m.The natural sulfur samples exhibit the lowest ∑REE concentrations (∑REE= 0.65×10^-6-4.580×10^-6)followed by metal sulfides (∑REE=1.71×10^-6-11.63×10^-6).By contrast,the natural sulfur-sediment samples have maximum ∑REE concentrations (∑REE=1 1.54×10^-6-33.06×10^-6), significantly lower than those of the volcanic and sediment samples.Nevertheless,the δEu,δCe,(La/Yb)N, La/Sm,(Gd/Yb)N and normalized patterns of the natural sulfur and metal sulfide show the most similarity to the sediment.Most hydrothermal precipitate samples are characterized by enrichments of LREE (LREE/HREE=10.09-24.53)arid slightly negative Eu anomalies or no anomaly (δEu=0.48-0.99),which are different from the hydrothermal fluid from sediment-free mid-oceanic ridges and back-are basins,but identical to the sulfides from the Jade hydrothermal field.The lower temperature and more oxidizing conditions produced by the mixing between seawater and hydrothermal fluids further attenuate the leaching ability of hydrothermal fluid,inducing lower REE concentrations for natural sulfur compared with metal sulfide;meanwhile,the negative Eu anomaly is also weakened or almost absent.The sulfur isotopic compositions of the natural sulfur (δ^34S=3.20‰-5.01‰,mean 4.23 ‰)and metal sulfide samples (δ34S=0.82‰-0.89‰,mean 0.85‰)reveal that the sulfur of the chimney is sourced from magmatic degassing.

Molecular simulation studies on natural gas hydrates nucleation and growth:A review

How natural gas hydrates nucleate and grow is a crucial scientific question.The research on it will help solve practical problems encountered in hydrate accumulation,development,and utilization of hydrate related technology.Due to its limitations on both spatial and temporal dimensions,experiment cannot fully explain this issue on a micro-scale.With the development of computer technology,molecular simulation has been widely used in the study of hydrate formation because it can observe the nucleation and growth process of hydrates at the molecular level.This review will assess the recent progresses in molecular dynamics simulation of hydrate nucleation and growth,as well as the enlightening significance of these developments in hydrate applications.At the same time,combined with the problems encountered in recent hydrate trial mining and applications,some potential directions for molecular simulation in the research of hydrate nucleation and growth are proposed,and the future of molecular simulation research on hydrate nucleation and growth is prospected.

Experimental investigation of hydrate formation in water-dominated pipeline and its influential factors

Blockage in water-dominated flow pipelines due to hydrate reformation has been suggested as a potential safety issue during the hydrate production.In this work,flow velocity-dependent hydrate formation features are investigated in a fluid circulation system with a total length of 39 m.A 9-m section pipe is transparent consisted of two complete rectangular loops.By means of pressurization with gas-saturated water,the system can gradually reach the equilibrium conditions.The result shows that the hydrates are delayed to appear as floccules or thin films covering the methane bubbles.When the circulation velocity is below 750 rpm,hydrate is finally deposited as a“hydrate bed”at upmost of inner wall,narrowing the flow channel of the pipeline.Nevertheless,no plugging is observed during all the experimental runs.The five stages of hydrate deposition are proposed based on the experimental results.It is also revealed that a higher driving pressure is needed at a lower flow rate.The driving force of hydrate formation from gas and water obtained by melting hydrate is higher than that from fresh water with no previous hydrate history.The authors hope that this work will be beneficial for the flow assurance of the following oceanic field hydrate recovery trials.

Formation mechanism,experimental method,and property characterization of graindisplacing methane hydrates in marine sediment:A review

Grain-displacing hydrate deposits exist at many marine sites,which constitute an important part of methane hydrate resources worldwide.Attributed to the difficulties in acquiring field data and synthesizing experimental samples,the formation and property characterization of grain-displacing hydrate remains less understood and characterized than the pore-filling hydrate in current literature.This study reviews the formation mechanisms of grain-displacing hydrate from the perspective of geological accumulation and microscale sedimentary property.The experimental methods of synthesizing grain-displacing hydrate in the laboratory and the current knowledge on the property of grain-displacing hydrate sediment are also introduced.Shortcomings in current theories and suggestions for future study are proposed.The work is hoped to provide valuable insights for the research into the hydrate accumulation,geophysics,and hydrate exploitation targeted at the grain-displacing hydrate in the marine sediments.

Application of frequency division inversion in the prediction of heterogeneous natural gas hydrates reservoirs in the Shenhu Area,South China Sea

Drilling results suggest that the thickness of natural gas hydrates(NGHs)in the Shenhu Area,South China Sea(SCS)are spatially heterogenous,making it difficult to accurately assess the NGHs resources in this area.In the case that free gas exists beneath hydrate deposits,the frequency of the hydrate deposits will be noticeably attenuated,with the attenuation degree mainly affected by pore development and free gas content.Therefore,the frequency can be used as an important attribute to identify hydrate reservoirs.Based on the time-frequency characteristics of deposits,this study predicted the spatial distribution of hydrates in this area using the frequency division inversion method as follows.Firstly,the support vector machine(SVM)method was employed to study the amplitude versus frequency(AVF)response based on seismic and well logging data.Afterward,the AVF response was introduced as independent information to establish the nonlinear relationship between logging data and seismic waveform.Then,the full frequency band information of the seismic data was fully utilized to obtain the results of frequency division inversion.The inversion results can effectively broaden the frequency band,reflect the NGHs distribution,and reveal the NGHs reservoirs of two types,namely the fluid migration pathway type and the in situ self-generation self-storage diffusion type.Moreover,the inversion results well coincide with the drilling results.Therefore,it is feasible to use the frequency division inversion to predict the spatial distribution of heterogeneous NGHs reservoirs,which facilitates the optimization of favorable drilling targets and is crucial to the resource potential assessment of NGHs.

Identification of functionally active aerobic methanotrophs and their methane oxidation potential in sediments from the Shenhu Area,South China Sea

Large amounts of gas hydrate are distributed in the northern slope of the South China Sea,which is a potential threat of methane leakage.Aerobic methane oxidation by methanotrophs,significant methane biotransformation that occurs in sediment surface and water column,can effectively reduce atmospheric emission of hydrate-decomposed methane.To identify active aerobic methanotrophs and their methane oxidation potential in sediments from the Shenhu Area in the South China Sea,multi-day enrichment incubations were conducted in this study.The results show that the methane oxidation rates in the studied sediments were 2.03‒2.36μmol/gdw/d,which were higher than those obtained by sediment incubations from other areas in marine ecosystems.Thus the authors suspect that the methane oxidation potential of methanotrophs was relatively higher in sediments from the Shenhu Area.After the incubations family Methylococcaea(type I methanotrophs)mainly consisted of genus Methylobacter and Methylococcaea_Other were predominant with an increased proportion of 70.3%,whereas Methylocaldum decreased simultaneously in the incubated sediments.Collectively,this study may help to gain a better understanding of the methane biotransformation in the Shenhu Area.

Introduction to Key Laboratory of Gas Hydrate,Ministry of Natural Resources

The Key Laboratory of Gas Hydrate, Ministry of Natural Resources, established in 2012 belongs to Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, China Geological Survey. Prof. Neng-you Wu is the Director of Laboratory and Prof. Yu-guang Ye is the Director of Academic Committee (Fig. 1). Now, the laboratory has been recognized as one of the leading laboratories in the world in terms of gas hydrate experimental technology.

Synthesis and acaricidal activity of strobilurin-pyrimidine derivatives

Pyriminostrobin, a new acaricide, was discovered in our previous studies. Because introducing fluorine into organic compounds can increase bioactivity, pyriminostrobin was modified as a series of strobilurin-pyrimidine derivatives for biological screening. The compounds were characterized by 1H NMR, MS and elemental analysis. Preliminary bioassays demonstrated that compounds 7e and 7i exhibited significant control against Tetranychus cinnabarinus （Boisd.） at 0.625 mg L^-1, and their acaricidal potencies were higher than pyriminostrobin in a greenhouse. The relationship between structure and acaricidal activity was also studied.