Method and apparatus for recovering methane from hydrate near the sea floor

a technology of methane gas and sea floor, which is applied in special mining, sealing/packing, and wellbore/well accessories. it can solve the problems of not disclosing the method of gas hydrate harvesting from the pore spaces of marine sands on the sea floor by fluidizing marine sands, and not disclosing the method

Inactive Publication Date: 2012-08-02
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
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Problems solved by technology

In addition, bacteria in marine sediments naturally produce enormous volumes of methane when they feed on plant debris washed into the gulf from rivers and swamps.
However, the thickness of the hydrate stability zone in the GOM was determined to not significantly exceed 1000 meters because of temperatures too high for formation of gas hydrates.
The patent discloses how to harvest gas hydrates from solid concentrations of gas hydrates, but does not disclose how to harvest gas hydrates from the pore spaces of marine sands on the sea floor by fluidizing the marine sands.
This patent does not disclose a means to fluidize the marine sands and gas hydrates in the pore spaces of the marine sands on the seafloor to allow rapid dissociation and efficient, safe collection and transportation to the surface for expansion, cooling and storage
However, this patent does not provide a means to fluidize the marine sands and gas hydrates found in their pore spaces

Method used

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  • Method and apparatus for recovering methane from hydrate near the sea floor
  • Method and apparatus for recovering methane from hydrate near the sea floor
  • Method and apparatus for recovering methane from hydrate near the sea floor

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Embodiment Construction

[0021]FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of apparatus 10 used in one embodiment of the process disclosed herein. One or more dome structures 11 are lowered to a depth near the seafloor where hydrate exists. Heater 12 on ship 20 heats seawater and pump 13 pumps the hot seawater through control valve 14 and water pipe 15 to spray header 16. The spray header distributes warm water through spray jet nozzles, preferably evenly spaced and optimized to fluidize the marine silt and sand to release solid gas hydrates located near or on the seafloor. Gas from hydrate collects under dome 11 and migrates to the top to form gas space 17. Gas flows to the surface through gas pipe 19. Valve 19A controls the rate of upward flow of methane gas to control the size of the gas space and to avoid two-phase liquid and gas flow in pipe 19. Cables C1 are used to hoist, lower and move dome 11. Although a ship is illustrated in the figure, any structure at the surface may be used, such as a semi-submersible plat...

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Abstract

Method and apparatus are disclosed for recovering natural gas from a hydrate deposit near or at the sea floor. A rigid dome structure, supported by a floating vessel and movable along the sea floor, is placed over the hydrate deposit. Heated sea water may be pumped from the floating vessel through headers and nozzles in the rigid dome structure. The heated sea water preferably fluidizes the marine sand containing hydrate, releasing gas in the hydrate. The gas is collected in the rigid dome structure and moved through a pipe to the floating vessel, where it may be processed through a turbo-expander and liquefied.

Description

[0001]This regular U.S. application claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61 / 437,099, flied on Jan. 28, 2011.BACKGROUND OF INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]This invention relates to recovery of methane gas from hydrate deposits on and very near the seafloor. More particularly, a system including a dome structure for capturing the gas and a system of hot-water nozzles for fluidizing the sediments and releasing the gas is disclosed along with processing steps and apparatus to recover energy from and liquefy the released gas.[0004]2. Description of Related Art[0005]The dissociation of methane gas hydrate is represented by:(CH4·6H2O)solid→(CH4)gas+6(H2O)liquidThe energy value of the produced gas is ten times what is needed for the dissociation of the hydrate.[0006]A recent article (R. Boswell, Science, August, 2009) reports that the global resource of methane in gas hydrate deposits is commonly cited as 20,000 trillion m3. For reference, the annual natura...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): E21B43/01
CPCE21C50/00E21B2043/0115E21B41/0099
Inventor HALL, KENNETH R.WILLMAN, TODD J.
Owner TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
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