Study of CO2 Hydrate Formation Process in Saline Aquifers

Reduction of CO2 emissions into atmosphere is basic concern of governments. Among different existing solutions for CO2 expulsion, injection of CO2 into saline aquifers has attracted much attention. These formations have a huge capacity for CO2 storage, but, there are some obstacles such as hydrate formation during CO2 injection. Optimization of these processes requires knowledge of phase behavior of CO2, hydrocarbons, water and electrolyte systems at high pressures and temperatures. Among the current projects, only a few of them which thermodynamically and regionally have the potential of hydrate formation are probable options for investigating hydrate formation. In this paper, phase behavior of gas hydrates and available models for predicting gas hydrate formation in the presence of electrolytes have been investigated. Among these models, those which have the ability of modeling at high temperature, high pressure and high electrolyte concentration are the best options for predicting gas hydrate formation in the aquifer.