Inspenet, July 10, 2023.
Advances in the production of safe fuels continue, as Russian scientists have developed a new method to predict the physical processes involved in processing gas hydrates , a promising and environmentally friendly energy resource.
The results of this discovery have been published in the International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer and show that this new methodology will significantly improve the efficiency of these substances in the energy sector and other fields.
Gas hydrates for fuel creation
Gas hydrates are ice-like crystalline compounds that form from water and gases under specific conditions of temperature and pressure. In recent decades, they have been increasingly used as ecologically neutral fuels in the energy and transport sectors.
According to scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University, the use of natural gas hydrates offers great potential due to its vast reserves and safer transportation compared to liquefied gas. Furthermore, gas hydrates contain a high concentration of gas per unit volume, for example, one cubic meter of methane hydrate can contain up to 170 cubic meters of methane.
The Tomsk researchers, supported by the state’s Priority 2030 programme, have proposed a new approach to predict the behavior of gas hydrate fuel during processing. According to its creators, this technology can be applied both to the development of new power plants and to the optimization of hydrate combustion modes in existing systems.
The experts explain that the characteristics of the decomposition of gas hydrates depend on various parameters, such as pressure and temperature, the size of the hydrate particles, their specific surface area, the type of crystalline structure, the interaction between the molecules of gas and water, among others.
The method is also noted for its ability to perform high-speed calculations, the scientists noted. In addition, according to the specialists of the University, this approach allows working with gas hydrates of different origins, taking into account the specific structural characteristics that depend on the climate in the region of formation.
“Through our approach, we can understand the physics of this process and provide recommendations on how to handle it,” explained Dmitry Antonov, associate professor at the Research School of Physics of High Energy Processes at Tomsk Polytechnic University.
In the future, the scientific team intends to expand on this new approach by developing a method that allows a complete description of gas dynamics during gas hydrate decomposition.
Loading...
