In-situ hydrate formation and reformation kinetics measured by magnetic resonance imaging

The energy related to natural gas trapped in water ashydrate may be twice the amount of all known sources of conventional oil, gas and coal. Fundamental understanding of the dynamics of the phase transitions for hydrate formation, dissociation and reformation through CO(2) injection is crucial in the design of efficient exploitation strategies for these types of hydrocarbon resources. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a powerful tool for imaging these phase transitions. A single MRI image consists of an enormous amount of raw, unprocessed data. In this work we describe an in-house built software that has proven to be highly efficient in storing, structuring and analyzing these data. The program also removes background noise and assists in identifying anomalies, making it possible to do real time in-situ analysis ofcomplex hydrate experiments in both bulk and porous media. We demonstrate applicationof this program through a specific experiment of hydrate formation in Bentheimer sandstone.