Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies presents new unit for pelletizing of gas hydrates

Experts from Kazan University, together with colleagues from the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian State University of Oil and Gas, have created the first installation in Russia for the rapid production and pressing of gas hydrates. Its use will make it possible to obtain and test pellets, which can become a commercial form of solid gas technology for its storage and transportation. Details of the development and results of laboratory studies were published in Chemistry and Technology of Fuels and Oils.

"We have been working on creating this installation for three years. We analyzed global experience, experimented with various methods for accelerating hydrate production, and came to a solution that we implemented in practice. Thanks to this equipment, we have managed to significantly speed up the process of obtaining hydrate in static conditions," says Matvey Semenov, Lead Researcher at the Laboratory of Hydrate Technologies of Utilization and Storage of Greenhouse Gases and Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Enhanced Oil Recovery.

Before developing the new installation, scientists obtained gas hydrates in laboratory conditions in the form of powder, which is difficult to store and transport, since it can quickly decompose and release gas back.

"Our task was to determine in what form to obtain, store and transport hydrates of natural and associated petroleum gas. These are very important issues for further pilot industrial implementation of the technology. We proposed and implemented in practice a method based on the formation of cylindrical pellets. It is based on the phenomenon of self-preservation, which means that the resulting hydrate remains stable under milder conditions. Consequently, the requirements for equipment are reduced and the entire process flow is simplified. We plan to continue optimizing the pelletizing process with regard to temperature, pressure and other operating parameters at our facility," adds Chair of the Department of Petroleum Engineering Mikhail Varfolomeev.

One device combines two technological processes: the formation of hydrates and the production of pellets; the latter are convenient for storage and transportation. To do this, gas is fed into a reactor filled with an aqueous solution with special substances that accelerate the formation of hydrates. Then they are pressed by a mechanism that resembles a piston and moves with the help of a hydraulic pump.

The very idea of compressing hydrates in laboratory conditions is not new to the scientific world. However, previously created analogs assembled in other countries are not speedy enough, and their hardware design is complex. This technology has been modernized at Kazan Federal University. Now the Russian facility significantly simplifies the design and reduces the time required to obtain a hydrate.

"Preliminary results have been obtained on methane hydrate formation using special substances that we developed in our laboratory. The operability of the installation has been tested and it has been proven that the process of obtaining hydrate can be accelerated. In addition, we managed to select conditions for obtaining a tightly pressed sample. Now we are actively studying how stable these samples are at atmospheric pressure and at negative storage temperatures," notes Dr. Semenov.

Relevant research continues at the Center for Liquid Hydrocarbons.

More information:
A Laboratory Unit for Production and Pelletizing of Gas Hydrates
link.springer.com/article/10.1 … 7/s10553-024-01744-4

Provided by Kazan Federal University