Experimental investigation into scaling models of methane hydrate reservoir

The Cubic Hydrate Simulator (CHS), a three-dimensional 5.8 L cubic pressure vessel, and the Pilot-Scale Hydrate Simulator (PHS), a three-dimensional 117.8 L pressure vessel, are used for investigating the production processes of hydrate. The gas production behaviors of methane hydrate in the porous media using the thermal stimulation method with a five-spot well system are studied. The experimental conditions are designed by a set of scaling criteria for the gas hydrate reservoir. The experimental results verify that the scaling criteria for gas hydrate production are reliable. The scaling criteria are used for predicting the production behavior of the real-scale hydrate reservoir. In the model of the real-scale hydrate reservoir with the size of 36 m × 36 m × 36 m, methane of 1.168 × 106 m3 (STP) is produced from the hydrate reservoir during 13.9 days of gas production. It is obtained that the gas recovery is 0.73, and the final energy efficiency is 9.5.