Depressurization and Electrical Heating of Hydrate Sediment for Gas Production

In-situ dissociation of natural gas hydrate is necessary for commercial recovery of natural gas from natural gas hydrate sediment. Thermal stimulation is an effective dissociation method, along with depressurization. In this study, we examined the efficiency of electrical heating of the hydrate core for gas production. To ensure safety and to avoid explosions, we investigated electrical heating of xenon gas hydrate sediment rather than methane hydrate sediment. Depressurization and additional electrode heating of hydrate sediment saturated with electrolyte solution was confirmed to enable higher gas production from sediment with less electric power.