Thermodynamics analysis on methane hydrate formation in porous carbon

Abstract

Methane is a potential alternative energy source which is abundant and produces lower CO2 emissions when it is used as fuel due to the content of C in the methane molecule is much lesser than its H content. Besides in a form of gas, methane in nature can also be in the form of methane hydrates. The formation process of methane hydrates in nature can be adopted as a method of storage of methane. In this study, a thermodynamics review will be studied related to temperature and pressure in a phase equilibrium system of methane hydrate. Thermodynamic model aims to predict the stability of methane hydrates for effective storage of methane. Each volume of methane hydrate contains as 164 volumes of methane gas under standard conditions (STP). The study was conducted by adsorbing methane on a wet porous carbon with the method of static volumetric.. The experimental results show that at the temperature of 274 K methane hydrates was formed at a pressure of 2.75 MPa; at a temperature of 275 K, pressure of 3.16 MPa; at a temperature of 276 K, pressure of 3.44 MPa, while at a temperature of 277 K, pressure of 3.67 MPa. Temperatures and pressures data are used to calculate the parameters of Langmuir equation constants modeled by the Van der Waals - Platteeuw for the chemical potential of water in the hydrate phase, Holder et al for the chemical potential of water in the liquid phase, as well as for the Gibbs-Thomson effect of porous carbon media.