IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v344y2026ics0360544226001209.html

Experimental investigation on hydrate dissociation enhanced by deep gas geothermal energy transport via water circulation: Effects of depressurization strategies on thermal transport characteristics

Author

Listed:
  • Shi, Kangji
  • Ji, Yunkai
  • Li, Yanlong
  • Song, Yongchen
  • Wu, Nengyou
  • Yang, Lei
  • Hu, Gaowei

Abstract

The natural gas hydrate reservoirs in the Shenhu Area of the South China Sea exhibit a typical "coexisting dual-gas system" with underlying deep gas reservoirs. This study addresses the critical scientific issue of how depressurization strategies affect thermal transport efficiency during hydrate production assisted by circulating water-transported geothermal energy from deep gas zones. Through systematic experiments, the mechanisms of back pressure, depressurization rate, and depressurization routine were investigated. The results demonstrate that reducing back pressure significantly enhances thermal transport efficiency, achieving a maximum improvement of 60.59%, while variations in depressurization rate show limited effects. The gradient depressurization effectively mitigates continuous water temperature decline, thereby maintaining subsequent hydrate decomposition driving force. Cycling depressurization further optimizes thermal transport efficiency by utilizing reservoir reheating during shut-in periods. Coefficient of variation analysis reveals that back pressure and depressurization routine have significantly higher control priority than depressurization rate. This study proposes a potential combined control method integrating low back pressure with cycling depressurization, providing theoretical and technical support for efficient geothermal energy utilization in co-production of dual-gas systems in the South China Sea.

Suggested Citation

  • Shi, Kangji & Ji, Yunkai & Li, Yanlong & Song, Yongchen & Wu, Nengyou & Yang, Lei & Hu, Gaowei, 2026. "Experimental investigation on hydrate dissociation enhanced by deep gas geothermal energy transport via water circulation: Effects of depressurization strategies on thermal transport characteristics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 344(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:344:y:2026:i:c:s0360544226001209
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2026.140018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544226001209
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2026.140018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Yongge & Hou, Jian & Zhao, Haifeng & Liu, Xiaoyu & Xia, Zhizeng, 2018. "A method to recover natural gas hydrates with geothermal energy conveyed by CO2," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 265-278.
    2. Liu, Yongge & Hou, Jian & Zhao, Haifeng & Liu, Xiaoyu & Xia, Zhizeng, 2019. "Numerical simulation of simultaneous exploitation of geothermal energy and natural gas hydrates by water injection into a geothermal heat exchange well," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 467-481.
    3. Yin, Zhenyuan & Wan, Qing-Cui & Gao, Qiang & Linga, Praveen, 2020. "Effect of pressure drawdown rate on the fluid production behaviour from methane hydrate-bearing sediments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    4. Hussain, Akhtar & Arif, Syed Muhammad & Aslam, Muhammad, 2017. "Emerging renewable and sustainable energy technologies: State of the art," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 12-28.
    5. He, Juan & Li, Xiaosen & Chen, Zhaoyang & Li, Qingping & Zhang, Yu & Wang, Yi & Xia, Zhiming & You, Changyu, 2021. "Combined styles of depressurization and electrical heating for methane hydrate production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(PA).
    6. Wu, Tianwei & Wan, Kun & Li, Xiao-Sen & Wang, Yi & Chen, Zhao-Yang, 2023. "Heat utilization efficiency analysis of gas production from hydrate reservoir by depressurization in conjunction with heat stimulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PA).
    7. Tian Wang & Aliakbar Hassanpouryouzband & Mengge Fan & Chalachew Mebrahtu & Lunxiang Zhang & Yongchen Song, 2025. "Organic magnetic nanoparticles catalyze CO2 capture in hydrogen-bonded nanocages via water-driven crystallization," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Li, Xiao-Yan & Wan, Kun & Wang, Yi & Li, Xiao-Sen, 2022. "The double-edged characteristics of the soaking time during hydrate dissociation by periodic depressurization combined with hot water injection," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    9. Wei, Rupeng & Xia, Yongqiang & Wang, Zifei & Li, Qingping & Lv, Xin & Leng, Shudong & Zhang, Lunxiang & Zhang, Yi & Xiao, Bo & Yang, Shengxiong & Yang, Lei & Zhao, Jiafei & Song, Yongchen, 2022. "Long-term numerical simulation of a joint production of gas hydrate and underlying shallow gas through dual horizontal wells in the South China Sea," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    10. Ye, Hongyu & Zhang, Qi & Yao, Yuanxin & Duan, Jun & Chen, Daoyi & Lu, Hailong & Wu, Xuezhen & Li, Dayong & Jiang, Yujing & Zi, Mucong, 2025. "Co-production of gas hydrates, shallow gas, and deep gas in the Qiongdongnan Basin: A pathway to commercial production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 384(C).
    11. Feng, Yu & Han, Yuze & Gao, Peng & Kuang, Yangmin & Yang, Lei & Zhao, Jiafei & Song, Yongchen, 2024. "Study of hydrate nucleation and growth aided by micro-nanobubbles: Probing the hydrate memory effect," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    12. Yang, Lei & Shi, Kangji & Qu, Aoxing & Liang, Huiyong & Li, Qingping & Lv, Xin & Leng, Shudong & Liu, Yanzhen & Zhang, Lunxiang & Liu, Yu & Xiao, Bo & Yang, Shengxiong & Zhao, Jiafei & Song, Yongchen, 2023. "The locally varying thermodynamic driving force dominates the gas production efficiency from natural gas hydrate-bearing marine sediments," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    13. Zhao, Jiafei & Liu, Yulong & Guo, Xianwei & Wei, Rupeng & Yu, Tianbo & Xu, Lei & Sun, Lingjie & Yang, Lei, 2020. "Gas production behavior from hydrate-bearing fine natural sediments through optimized step-wise depressurization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yang, Lei & Wang, Liuhu & Xing, Hao & Gao, Peng & Zhang, Lunxiang & Dong, Hongsheng & Song, Yongchen, 2025. "Experimental analysis of the synergistic effect between geothermal temperature and depressurization rate in the geothermal-assisted production of natural gas hydrates," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    2. Yang, Lei & Shi, Kangji & Qu, Aoxing & Liang, Huiyong & Li, Qingping & Lv, Xin & Leng, Shudong & Liu, Yanzhen & Zhang, Lunxiang & Liu, Yu & Xiao, Bo & Yang, Shengxiong & Zhao, Jiafei & Song, Yongchen, 2023. "The locally varying thermodynamic driving force dominates the gas production efficiency from natural gas hydrate-bearing marine sediments," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    3. Yang, Lei & Wang, Zifei & Shi, Kangji & Ge, Yang & Li, Qingping & Leng, Shudong & Zhou, Yi & Zhang, Lunxiang & Zhao, Jiafei & Song, Yongchen, 2024. "Upward migration of the shallow gas enhances the production behavior from the vertical heterogeneous hydrate-bearing marine sediments," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    4. Qu, Aoxing & Guan, Dawei & Jiang, Zhibo & Fan, Qi & Li, Qingping & Zhang, Lunxiang & Zhao, Jiafei & Yang, Lei & Song, Yongchen, 2023. "Sensible heat aided gas production from gas hydrate with an underlying water-rich shallow gas layer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    5. Wei, Rupeng & Xia, Yongqiang & Qu, Aoxing & Fan, Qi & Li, Qingping & Lv, Xin & Leng, Shudong & Li, Xingbo & Zhang, Lunxiang & Zhang, Yi & Zhao, Jiafei & Yang, Lei & Sun, Xiang & Song, Yongchen, 2024. "Sustained production of gas hydrate through hybrid depressurization scheme with enhanced energy efficiency and mitigated ice blockage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    6. Shi, Kangji & Wang, Zifei & Jia, Yuxin & Li, Qingping & Lv, Xin & Wang, Tian & Zhang, Lunxiang & Liu, Yu & Zhao, Jiafei & Song, Yongchen & Yang, Lei, 2022. "Effects of the vertical heterogeneity on the gas production behavior from hydrate reservoirs simulated by the fine sediments from the South China Sea," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    7. Xia, Yongqiang & Yu, Tao & Yang, Lei & Chen, Bingbing & Jiang, Lanlan & Yang, Mingjun & Song, Yongchen, 2025. "Multi-state CO2 distribution patterns for subsea carbon sequestration assisted by large-scale CO2 hydrate caps," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    8. He, Juan & Li, Xiaosen & Chen, Zhaoyang & You, Changyu & Peng, Hao & Zhang, Zhiwen, 2022. "Sustainable hydrate production using intermittent depressurization in hydrate-bearing reservoirs connected with water layers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    9. Guan, Dawei & Gao, Peng & Jiang, Zhibo & Fan, Qi & Li, Qingping & Zhou, Yi & Zhang, Lunxiang & Zhao, Jiafei & Song, Yongchen & Yang, Lei, 2024. "Spatial evolution of CO2 storage in depleted natural gas hydrate reservoirs and its synergistic efficiency analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 376(PA).
    10. Guan, Dawei & Qu, Aoxing & Gao, Peng & Fan, Qi & Li, Qingping & Zhang, Lunxiang & Zhao, Jiafei & Song, Yongchen & Yang, Lei, 2023. "Improved temperature distribution upon varying gas producing channel in gas hydrate reservoir: Insights from the Joule-Thomson effect," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 348(C).
    11. Yu, Changhong & Zhou, Wantian & Sun, Baojiang & Bian, Hanbing & Bahaeddine, Mihoubi & Yang, Tangyang & Chen, Litao, 2024. "Natural gas hydrate dissolution kinetics in sandy sediments: Implications for massive water production in field tests," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 376(PB).
    12. Yang, Mingjun & Wang, Xinru & Pang, Weixin & Li, Kehan & Yu, Tao & Chen, Bingbing & Song, Yongchen, 2023. "The inhibit behavior of fluids migration on gas hydrate re-formation in depressurized-decomposed-reservoir," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    13. Jin, Guangrong & Liu, Jie & Su, Zheng & Feng, Chuangji & Cheng, Sanshan & Zhai, Haizhen & Liu, Lihua, 2024. "Gas production from a promising reservoir of the hydrate with associated and shallow gas layers in the low permeable sediments," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    14. Wang, Tian & Fan, Ziyu & Sun, Lingjie & Yang, Lei & Zhao, Jiafei & Song, Yongchen & Zhang, Lunxiang, 2024. "Pore-scale behaviors of CO2 hydrate formation and dissociation in the presence of swelling clay: Implication for geologic carbon sequestration," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    15. Yao, Yuanxin & Niu, Mengya & Zi, Mucong & Sun, Yi-Fei & Chen, Daoyi, 2025. "Coupling depressurization and flue gas flooding to enhance CH4 recovery and CO2 sequestration in hydrate-bearing sediments: Pilot-scale experimental evaluation at marine conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    16. Liu, Yanzhen & Qi, Huiping & Liang, Huiyong & Yang, Lei & Lv, Xin & Qiao, Fen & Wang, Junfeng & Liu, Yanbo & Li, Qingping & Zhao, Jiafei, 2024. "Influence mechanism of interfacial organic matter and salt system on carbon dioxide hydrate nucleation in porous media," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    17. Chen, Chang & Zhang, Yu & Li, Xiaosen & He, Jiayuan & Gao, Fei & Chen, Zhaoyang, 2024. "Investigations into methane hydrate formation, accumulation, and distribution in sediments with different contents of illite clay," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 359(C).
    18. Guan, Dawei & Qu, Aoxing & Wang, Zifei & Lv, Xin & Li, Qingping & Leng, Shudong & Xiao, Bo & Zhang, Lunxiang & Zhao, Jiafei & Yang, Lei & Song, Yongchen, 2023. "Fluid flow-induced fine particle migration and its effects on gas and water production behavior from gas hydrate reservoir," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    19. Zhao, Ermeng & Hou, Jian & Liu, Yongge & Ji, Yunkai & Liu, Wenbin & Lu, Nu & Bai, Yajie, 2020. "Enhanced gas production by forming artificial impermeable barriers from unconfined hydrate deposits in Shenhu area of South China sea," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    20. Du, Hongxing & Zhang, Yiqun & Huang, Haochen & Li, Gensheng & Wang, Tianyu & Zhang, Bo, 2025. "Intermittent CO2 injection for methane production and carbon sequestration in natural gas hydrate reservoirs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:344:y:2026:i:c:s0360544226001209. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.