Hydrocyclone technology for breaking consolidation and sand removal of the Natural gas hydrate

Abstract

Natural gas hydrate is a promising substitute energy resource for the future. Currently, the inefficient sand control technology impedes the commercialization of Natural gas hydrate. The main challenge lies in breaking the consolidation of Natural gas hydrate and sands, and then separating micrometer-sized sands from the drilling fluid. In this paper, we present a technology based on hydroscyclone that effectively breaks the consolidations and removes sand. We used polypropylene powders and silica sands as substitutes for the hydrates and sands, and we added cement to replicate the consolidation. Inside the hydrocyclone, the material particles receive a strong shear force from the 3-dimension rotating swirling flow field generated by the device, as well as a centrifugal force produced by their own rotation and revolution. With the high-speed camera, we observed the effect of these forces breaking the consolidation and separating sands. It was further noted that the proportion of residual polypropylene powders in the recovered materials were between 0.46% and 1.05% after the materials were processed by the hydrocyclone. The low residual content of polypropylene powders demonstrated the success of hydrocyclone technology in breaking the consolidation and effectively addressing the problem of sand control in the extraction of Natural gas hydrate and sands.

Keywords

• Natural gas hydrate
• Hydrocyclone
• Three-phase separation
• Sand control
• Consolidation-breaking