| Citation: |
Jian-liang Ye, Xu-wen Qin, Hai-jun Qiu, Qian-yong Liang, Yi-fei Dong, Jian-gong Wei, Hai-long Lu, Jing-an Lu, Yao-hong Shi, Chao Zhong, Zhen Xia, 2018. Preliminary results of environmental monitoring of the natural gas hydrate production test in the South China Sea, China Geology, 1, 202-209. doi: 10.31035/cg2018029
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Preliminary results of environmental monitoring of the natural gas hydrate production test in the South China Sea
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Abstract
Natural gas hydrate (NGH) is considered as one of the new clean energy sources of the 21st century with the highest potential. The environmental issues of NGH production have attracted the close attention of scientists in various countries. From May 10 to July 9, 2017, the first offshore NGH production test in the South China Sea (SCS) was conducted by the China Geological Survey. In addition, environmental security has also been effectively guaranteed via a comprehensive environmental monitoring system built during the NGH production test. The monitoring system considered sea-surface atmosphere methane and carbon dioxide concentrations, dissolved methane in the sea water column, and the seafloor physical oceanography and marine chemistry environment. The whole process was monitored via multiple means, in multiple layers, in all domains, and in real time. After the production test, an environmental investigation was promptly conducted to evaluate the environmental impact of the NGH production test. The monitoring results showed that the dissolved methane concentration in seawater and the near-seabed environment characteristics after the test were consistent with the background values, indicating that the NGH production test did not cause environmental problems such as methane leakage.
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Keywords:
- South China Sea /
- Natural gas hydrate /
- Production test /
- Methane leakage /
- Environmental monitoring
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References
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Jian-liang Ye, Xu-wen Qin, Hai-jun Qiu, Qian-yong Liang, Yi-fei Dong, Jian-gong Wei, Hai-long Lu, Jing-an Lu, Yao-hong Shi, Chao Zhong, Zhen Xia, 2018. Preliminary results of environmental monitoring of the natural gas hydrate production test in the South China Sea, China Geology, 1, 202-209. doi: 10.31035/cg2018029
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Figure 1.
Gas hydrate environment effect survey areas and production test location in SCS.
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Figure 2.
"Four-in-one" environmental monitoring system employed during the production test (from Li JF et al., 2018).
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Figure 3.
Schematic diagram of submarine environmental monitoring arrangement in the production test area (a. Gas hydrate production test location; b. Submarine topography and geomorphy map of production test station; c. Rose diagram of production test area; d. Submersible buoyant system in seabed during test production).
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Figure 4.
Comparison of average dissolved methane content in seawater of production test area (a. The average content of dissolved methane from May 2013 to Sep 2017; b. The profile of seawater methane content at production test location in March and September of 2017).
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Figure 5.
Results of methane content in the seabed during production test.
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Figure 6.
Methane content box line map at various stages of the production test process.
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Figure 7.
The phase diagram of NGH equilibrium in SCS (the solid green line indicated geothermal gradient in production test zone; the red solid line indicated the equilibrium line of methane hydrates in seawater; the blue solid line indicated the seawater temperature curve in production test zone; the red dotted line indicated the measured value of seawater dissolved methane content after production test, where specific values were shown in Table 3).