Seventh Mississippi State - UAB Conference on Differential Equations and
Computational Simulations.
Electronic Journal of Differential Equations,
Conference 17 (2009), pp. 1-11.

Title: Methane hydrate formation and decomposition

Author: Vasilios Alexiades (Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA)
 
Abstract: 
 Methane hydrates, in arctic permafrost and deep ocean sediments,
store vast amounts of methane, which is the primary constituent of 
natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas.

Methane hydrate is a crystaline solid consisting of methane
surrounded by frozen water molecules. It is stable in a narrow range 
of high pressures and low temperatures. Thus, issues affecting the 
stability of hydrate layers and phase change processes that may 
disturb this stability are of utmost importance.

We present simulations with an isobaric compositional thermal model,
based on conservation laws for species and energy,
which allows composition, temperature, and pressure dependence
of material properties, with thermodynamically consistent treatment
of phase behavior via equations of state.

Published April 15, 2009.
Math Subject Classifications: 92C45, 35K60, 65M99.
Key Words: Phase change; enthalpy; heat conduction; diffusion; 
           thermochemistry; gas hydrates; finite volume scheme.