Molecular simulation of non-equilibrium methane hydrate decomposition process

We recently performed constant energy molecular dynamics simulations of the endothermic decomposition of methane hydrate in contact with water to study phenomenologically the role of mass and heat transfer in the decomposition rate [S. Alavi, J.A. Ripmeester, J. Chem. Phys. 132 (2010) 144703]. We observed that with the progress of the decomposition front temperature gradients are established between the remaining solid hydrate and the solution phases. In this work, we provide further quantitative macroscopic and molecular level analysis of the methane hydrate decomposition process with an emphasis on elucidating microscopic details and how they affect the predicted rate of methane hydrate decomposition in natural methane hydrate reservoirs. A quantitative criterion is used to characterize the decomposition of the hydrate phase at different times. Hydrate dissociation occurs in a stepwise fashion with rows of sI cages parallel to the interface decomposing simultaneously. The correlations between decomposition times of subsequent layers of the hydrate phase are discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.