Gas Production and Storage Using Hydrates Through the Replacement of Multicomponent Gases: A Critical Review

Abstract

With the continuous growth of global energy demand and the gradual depletion of traditional fossil energy reserves, natural gas hydrates have attracted widespread attention as a potential clean energy source due to their vast reserves and wide distribution. Although various extraction methods, including depressurization, thermal stimulation, chemical inhibitors, and displacement methods, have been proposed, there are still challenges, such as low extraction efficiency, poor sustainability, and high costs, making it difficult to achieve large-scale engineering applications. Among these, the use of gases such as CO2 for displacement extraction of natural gas hydrates can both develop hydrate resources and sequester CO2, achieving a win–win situation for resource development and greenhouse gas reduction. This paper provides a detailed review of the multi-gas displacement extraction technology for natural gas hydrates, systematically summarizes the latest progress in thermodynamic and kinetic studies, analyzes the technical advantages and feasibility of combining displacement methods with traditional techniques, and explores the effects of multi-gas mixtures, such as N2, CO2, and H2, and their ratios on hydrate extraction efficiency. Finally, this paper summarizes the technical challenges faced by displacement extraction methods for hydrates and offers future research directions to promote the development of multi-gas displacement technology for natural gas hydrates.

Keywords

• natural gas hydrate
• displacement method
• thermodynamic properties
• kinetic properties
• multicomponent gas