Characterizing Supercritical Methane Adsorption on Shale by a Multi-site Model

Shale gas, mainly consisting of adsorbed gas and free gas, has served a critical role of supplying the growing global natural gas demand in the past decades. Considering that the adsorbed methane has contributed up to 80% of the total gas in place (GIP), understanding the methane adsorption behaviours is imperative to an accurate estimation of total GIP. Historically, the single-site Langmuir-Gibbs model, with the assumption of a homogeneous surface, is commonly applied to estimate the adsorbed gas amount. However, this assumption cannot depict the methane adsorption characteristics due to various compositions and pore sizes of shales. In this work, a multi-site model integrating the energetic heterogeneity in adsorption is derived, which is also successfully validated with a series of measured adsorption isotherms in experimental conditions. Applying the proposed multi-site model for estimating GIP in shales can achieve more accurate results compared with using the traditionally single-site model. Furthermore, shale reservoir properties, such as reservoir porosity, a geothermal gradient, as well as a pressure gradient have been investigated and shown to affect the GIP.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MSc)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Engineering – Chemical & Petroleum

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Schulich School of Engineering

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Wu, Zhe

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Chen, Zhangxin

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Azaiez, Jalel
• Aguilera, Roberto F.

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/34969

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:1880/109347