| Citation: |
Li Huang, Jia-le Kang, Xiao-dong Shen, Jian-ye Sun, Qing-guo Meng, Qiang Chen, Gao-wei Hu, Chang-ling Liu, Neng-you Wu, 2022. Experimental investigation of hydrate formation in water-dominated pipeline and its influential factors, China Geology, 5, 310-321. doi: 10.31035/cg2022015
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Experimental investigation of hydrate formation in water-dominated pipeline and its influential factors
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Abstract
Blockage in water-dominated flow pipelines due to hydrate reformation has been suggested as a potential safety issue during the hydrate production. In this work, flow velocity-dependent hydrate formation features are investigated in a fluid circulation system with a total length of 39 m. A 9-m section pipe is transparent consisted of two complete rectangular loops. By means of pressurization with gas-saturated water, the system can gradually reach the equilibrium conditions. The result shows that the hydrates are delayed to appear as floccules or thin films covering the methane bubbles. When the circulation velocity is below 750 rpm, hydrate is finally deposited as a “hydrate bed” at upmost of inner wall, narrowing the flow channel of the pipeline. Nevertheless, no plugging is observed during all the experimental runs. The five stages of hydrate deposition are proposed based on the experimental results. It is also revealed that a higher driving pressure is needed at a lower flow rate. The driving force of hydrate formation from gas and water obtained by melting hydrate is higher than that from fresh water with no previous hydrate history. The authors hope that this work will be beneficial for the flow assurance of the following oceanic field hydrate recovery trials.
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References
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Li Huang, Jia-le Kang, Xiao-dong Shen, Jian-ye Sun, Qing-guo Meng, Qiang Chen, Gao-wei Hu, Chang-ling Liu, Neng-you Wu, 2022. Experimental investigation of hydrate formation in water-dominated pipeline and its influential factors, China Geology, 5, 310-321. doi: 10.31035/cg2022015
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Figure 1.
Schematic of the 39-m high-pressure flowloop QIMG_TFA. Main part is a 9-m transparent pipe with two complete rectangular loops. Point 2 and 4 are cambered corners, and Point 5 and 7 are perpendicular corners. The colorful piston-container is 2.1 L with lower part is highlighted in orange color.
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Figure 2.
The flowsheet of the whole experiment procedure.
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Figure 3.
Variation of the temperature and pressure in the flowloop during the process of the methane-saturated water injection. Note: The three temperatures and one injection rate are both referring to left y-axis, which just the same value but different units.
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Figure 4.
The images captured by the high-speed video camera at different moments. a1-3: the pressure in the system has not reached the equilibrium pressure and no gas hydrate can be observed; b1-3: the moment when the pressure increasing rate begins to decrease and some small hydrate particles are captured sticking in the wall.
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Figure 5.
The formed hydrates intermittently stick to the inner wall of loops and slough off due to the flushing of water flow. The yellow circle highlighted the formed hydrates and their locations are moving and no hydrates can be seen in (5)-(6).
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Figure 6.
The hydrate film between the gas bubbles captured by the high-speed video camera during the process of continuous gas-saturated water injection. The shape of the filmed hydrate is irregular and the gas bubbles cannot be integrated in the mixed flow.
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Figure 7.
A deposited hydrate bed is captured to stick to the upper inner wall when the system pressure reaches 5.0 MPa. This hydrate bed is as the same as that in Fig. 9, which are located in the two visual windows in the system.
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Figure 8.
Hydrates are captured to intermittently accumulated in the right cambered corner. The hydrates are sticked at the different locations during the flow in figs (a), (b), (d), (e) and (f). There is no hydrate captured in fig (c).
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Figure 9.
Some hydrates deposited at the upper inner wall of the pipe through the visual windows. The two visible windows located at the inlet and outlet of the coiler pipe in the whole apparatus.
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Figure 10.
Schematic of whole process of hydrate formation and deposition at different scenarios. When the circulation velocity is lower than 750 rpm, the five stages are (1) Continuous gas phase, in which the methane bubbles are normally big. (2) Gas bubbles break, and the methane bubbles normally show irregular pattern in this period. (3) Gas bubbles break, in this period the methane bubbles are continuously broken and show relatively uniform. (4) Hydrate formation, it is early hydrate bedding formation stage, and some hydrate clusters are observed moving along the lower bedding layer. (5) Hydrate deposit stage, in this stage no moving hydrate can be observed and the flow channel is narrowed. When the circulation velocity is higher than 750 rpm, there are still five stages division and the first three stages are the same. However, in the forth stage, the formed hydrates are evenly distributed in the mixture flow. And in the fifth stage, the formed hydrates are increasing and no hydrate bed was observed, and the flow channel can maintain the same.
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Figure 11.
Flowrate variation at the entrance of the transparent flowloop.
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Figure 12.
The hydrate formation driving pressure at different circulation velocity systems.