Dynamic behavior of methane hydrates formation and decomposition with a visual high-pressure apparatus

A new visual high-pressure apparatus, with an internal volume of about 1.6 L, was installed in the present study to investigate the dynamic behavior of gas hydrate formation and decomposition. A series of experiments have been conducted for collecting the dynamic data of methane hydrate formation at specific temperature and pressure and those of hydrate decomposition at temperatures from 274K to 285 K as pressure decreasing from high pressure to ambient pressure. A first-order reaction model represents well the dissociation behavior of methane hydrates. In addition to the visual inspection of the phase transition through transparent windows, the dynamic temperature distribution, pressure, and the total volume change of the released methane provide valuable data to verify and improve the performance of software for simulating the methane hydrate formation and the gas production from the natural gas hydrate reservoir with depressurization process. (C) 2016 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.