Mathematical modeling of gas production from gas hydrate reservoirs

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dc.contributor.advisorPooladi-Darvish, Mehran
dc.contributor.advisorAbedi, Jalal
dc.contributor.authorShahbazi, Amir
dc.date.accessioned2017-12-18T22:04:24Z
dc.date.available2017-12-18T22:04:24Z
dc.date.issued2010
dc.descriptionBibliography: p. 292-303en
dc.description.abstractEnormous quantities of methane gas are trapped in the form of hydrate in permafrost and offshore environments. As a result of increasing world energy demand, gas hydrates, which are natural gas molecules trapped in the structure of solid water molecule are being considered as a potential resource for clean energy. Much interest and research have been devoted in the last two decades towards the mathematical modeling of hydrate decomposition and gas production from hydrate reservoirs. Large resources of hydrate have been explored worldwide, including in the Northwest Territories of Canada, Siberia, Alaska and Japan. The main mechanisms involved in the process of hydrate decomposition and gas production are thermodynamic and kinetics of decomposition, heat transfer by convection and conduction, and gas-water two-phase flow. In addition to finding an appropriate mathematical method to solve the system of nonlinear equations, the treatment of the multi-scale physics that exists in the process of decomposition is one of the challenging aspects of the mathematical modeling. This dissertation has two main components: first, a 3-dimensional four-phase four-component numerical model for simulation of gas production from hydrate reservoirs is developed. The numerical model uses a control volume method to solve the system of nonlinear equations. Capillary pressure along with the relative permeability model is modified to account for the presence of the solid phase (hydrate and ice). Two kinetics models are used to represent reactions that turn hydrate to gas and water and also ice to water and vice versa. The validity of the numerical model is investigated, based on existing analytical and numerical solutions. The multi-scale nature of the problem is studied in both space and time. A new discretization formulation is used to overcome grid dependency of the problem. An operator splitting technique is suggested to separate selection of time steps for each mechanism and speed up the computation operation. In the second part of the thesis, the numerical simulator is used for engineering studies. The issue of ice formation, its effect on gas production and selection of criteria to prevent it are studied. The results suggest that a simple criterion can be defined to avoid freezing in the depressurization technique. The Joule-Thompson cooling effect may reduce the temperature, but it does not violate the ice formation criterion. The Joule-Thompson effect may prevent hydrates from decomposition unless the bottom-hole pressure is reduced to a certain point. Behaviour of type III hydrate reservoirs is investigated with the use of the developed simulator. Two similarity behaviours are identified that may aid in the development of analytical solutions.en
dc.format.extentxxxv, 324 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm.en
dc.identifier.citationShahbazi, A. (2010). Mathematical modeling of gas production from gas hydrate reservoirs (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/3342en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/3342
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/104343
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.titleMathematical modeling of gas production from gas hydrate reservoirs
dc.typedoctoral thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineChemical and Petroleum Engineering
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
ucalgary.thesis.accessionTheses Collection 58.002:Box 1966 627942809
ucalgary.thesis.notesUARCen
ucalgary.thesis.uarcreleaseyen
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