Open AccessTowards the development of cavitation technology for gas hydrate prevention
Author(s) -
Mingbo Wang,
Junjie Qiu,
Weiqing Chen
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
royal society open science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 51
ISSN - 2054-5703
DOI - 10.1098/rsos.202054
Subject(s) - cavitation , clathrate hydrate , hydrate , petroleum engineering , methane , volume (thermodynamics) , materials science , thermal , cabin pressurization , flow assurance , viscosity , environmental science , mechanics , thermodynamics , chemistry , geology , composite material , physics , organic chemistry
In offshore gas well drilling and production, methane hydrate may block the tubing, resulting in the stoppage of gas production. Conventional methods such as injection of thermal hydrate inhibitors, thermal insulating or heating, gas dehydration and reducing pressure are time-consuming and expensive, and sometimes, they are not realistic in production conditions. New methods are needed to lower the cost of gas hydrate prevention and to overcome these limitations. The thermal effect of cavitation was applied to the prevention of gas hydrate in this study. The thermal impact of cavitation, supposed to heat the fluids and prevent the formation of gas hydrate, was evaluated. Numerical simulation was performed to study the thermal performance of cavitation. Furthermore, experimental studies of the influence of initial temperature, flow rate, fluid volume and fluid viscosity on the thermal effect of cavitation were performed, and the results were analysed.