Gas Hydrate Production via CO2 Emulsion Injection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for fixing carbon dioxide (CO2) and mining methane (CH4) hydrate face challenges such as slow reaction rates, environmental pollution risks, and instability in ocean sedimentary layers, where the high-speed jet flow method can cause caving and embrittlement, and the injection of liquid CO2 leads to buoyancy and leakage issues.
Innovation Solution
The method involves injecting guest molecules in the form of emulsions, where the liquid is dispersed as minute particles within water, allowing for controlled temperature and pressure conditions to form hydrates, facilitating rapid production and substitution of gas hydrates without destabilizing the layer, using CO2 as a heating agent to decompose CH4 hydrate and form stable CO2 hydrate.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If liquid CO2 is injected into the CH4 hydrate layer, then CO2 fixation and CH4 recovery are achieved, but liquid CO2 rises due to buoyancy and leaks before hydrate formation
Solution Approach 1:
The liquid CO2 is divided into fine droplets (1-100 μm diameter) through high-speed jet injection, creating a dispersed emulsion that can penetrate the sediment layer effectively. This segmentation prevents buoyancy-driven rising by distributing CO2 throughout the layer rather than as a continuous liquid phase.
Solution Approach 2:
High-speed jet flow (supercritical or gaseous CO2) is used to atomize and disperse liquid CO2 into fine droplets. The hydraulic injection system delivers the CO2-water mixture at high velocity to ensure proper dispersion and penetration into the CH4 hydrate layer before phase change occurs.
2Productivity
If high-speed jet flow is used to cut and break gas hydrate, then mining efficiency is improved, but the sedimentary layer becomes unstable causing caving and embrittlement
Solution Approach 1:
The physical state of CO2 is changed to supercritical or gaseous phase for injection, which provides sufficient energy for hydrate decomposition through phase change and pressure effects, replacing the need for high-speed mechanical jet cutting that causes layer instability.
Solution Approach 2:
CO2 undergoes phase transition from liquid/supercritical to gaseous state within the hydrate layer, utilizing the energy of phase change to decompose CH4 hydrate. This thermal and pressure-based approach avoids the mechanical disruption caused by high-speed jet flow.
3Quantity of substance
If liquid CO2 is injected without mixing with water, then the hydrate production reaction area is restricted, but the reaction rate becomes slow
Solution Approach 1:
A CO2-water emulsion is injected instead of pure liquid CO2. The hydraulic system delivers this mixture at high speed, ensuring proper dispersion of CO2 droplets throughout the hydrate layer while maintaining sufficient CO2 concentration for effective hydrate formation.
Solution Approach 2:
The injection approach transitions from subsurface liquid injection to high-velocity emulsion injection, adding the dimension of kinetic energy and dispersion. This creates a three-dimensional distribution of CO2 droplets throughout the layer, dramatically increasing the reaction surface area.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach accelerates the production rate of gas hydrates, allows for efficient fixation of large amounts of CO2, prevents leakage and environmental pollution, and stabilizes the sedimentary layer, enabling safe mining of CH4 hydrate while fixing CO2 as a stable hydrate.
Implementation Method 1
injecting guest molecules in a form of emulsion, wherein liquid of the guest molecules is dispersed in water as minute particles
Implementation Method 2
by the exothermal reaction at this production the CH4 hydrate can be decomposed
Implementation Method 3
under the temperature and pressure conditions which allow the guest molecules to form hydrate
Data Source
AI summary
A gas hydrate is produced by injecting guest molecules into voids in a layer of which temperature and pressure condition allows the guest molecules to cause to form hydrate, in a form of emulsion where liquid of the guest molecules is dispersed in water as minute particles having a size of less than a size of voids, and thereby dispersing the guest molecules uniformly into the voids in the layer.