Water transfer rules during methane hydrate formation and dissociation inside saturated coarse sand and loess

In order to understand the kinetics mechanism of methane hydrate formation and dissociation inside porous media more comprehensively, a novel research apparatus with three pF-meter sensors which could detect water changes of soil was designed and manufactured and the water transfer rules during methane hydrate formation and dissociation inside two different saturated media were studied with the novel apparatus. It was experimentally proved that under the same formation condition, there were obvious differences in methane hydrate formation configuration and water transfer rules between inside the saturated coarse sand and inside the saturated loess during the same hydrate formation processes. During hydrate dissociation processes, the water transfer rules were abnormal and inconsistent with the conventional methane dissociation facts, which needed more studies to find out the real reasons.