• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.15-21
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• 2009

Gas hydrate is an ice-like crystalline compound that forms at low temperature and high pressure conditions. It consists of gas molecules surrounded by cages of water molecules. Although hydrate formation was initially found to pose serious flow-assurance problems in the gas pipelines or facilities, gas hydrates have much potential for application in a wide variety of areas, such as natural gas storage and transportation. Its very high gas-to-solid ratio and remarkably stable characteristics makes it an attractive candidate for such use. However, it needs to be researched further since it has a slow and complex formation process and a high production cost. In this study, formation experiments have been carried out to investigate the effects of pressure, temperature, water-to-storage volume ratio, SDS concentration, heat transfer and stirring. The results are presented to clarify the relationship between the formation process and each factor, which consequently will help find the most efficient production method.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.686-686
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• 2009

가스하이드레이트는 수소결합을 하는 물분자의 고체상 격자(Lattice)내에 포집되어 들어가는 기체분자로 구성된 결정화합물로서 외형적인 형태는 얼음과 거의 유사하다. 천연가스 하이드레이트 기술의 최대장점으로는 액화천연가스(LNG)는 초저온인 $-162^{\circ}C$의 저장조건이 필요하지만 천연가스하이드레이트(NGH)기술은 비교적 온화한 조건인 $-15^{\circ}C$에서 천연가스를 고체상태로 저장/이용할 수 있다는 것이다. 천연가스를 $-162^{\circ}C$에서 액화시킨 LNG상태로 생산, 수송, 저장하는 경우보다 고체상태인 NGH(Natural Gas Hydrate)로 만들어서 생산, 수송, 저장할 경우 천연가스의 생산, 수송, 저장, 재가스화 등의 일련의 공정과 비교해볼 때 LNG방법보다 약 24%이상의 경비를 절감을 할 수 있다고 보고되어지고 있다. 따라서, 천연가스의 수송 및 저장기술에서의 탁월한 경제성으로 인해 선진국에서는 가스하이드레이트에 대한 활발한 연구가 진행되고 있다. 특히 일본은 5Ton/Day용량의 NGH 생산플랜트를 건설하여 시운전 중에 있다. NGH기술의 주요 활용분야는 대용량의 가스매장량을 요구하여 LNG공정기술을 적용할 수 없는 중소형가스전 또는 한계가스전에 경제적으로 적용하는 해양수송분야와 천연가스 공급망이 갖춰져 있지 못한 지역에 NGH Pellet형태로 수송/재기화하여 활용하는 내륙운송이 분야가 있다. 국내에서는 지식경제부 국책과제인 ETI(Energy Technology Innovation)사업을 시작으로 국가경쟁력 제고 차원에서 이러한 기술의 기반구촉 및 실증화 사업이 진행되고 있다. 주요 내용으로는 NGH Process Flow, Overall NGH Process concept diagram, NGH Carrier outline, NGH Land Transportation chain 등이 포함되어 있다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.50-53
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• 2006

Regional geophysical surveys and geological cal studies on natural gas hydrate (NGH) in the East Sea were carried out by the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) from 2000 to 2004. 16 piston cores, 2270 L-km of multi-channel reflection seismic (MCRS) data and 730 L-km of 3.5kHz Chirp data obtained from the southwestern part of the deep-water Ulleung Basin were analyzed in this study. In piston cores, cracks generally developed parallel to bedding suggest significant gas content. The core analyses showed high total organic carbon (TOC) content, sedimentation rate and heat flow of sediments. These are in favor of the general ion of substantial biogenic methane, which can form the NGH within the stability zone of the near seafloor sediments in the study area. The cores generally show also high residual hydrocarbon gas concentrations for the formation of natural gas hydrates The geophysical indicators of the presence of gas and/or NGH such as bottom simulating reflectors (BSRs), seismic blank Bones, pockmarks and gas seeping features were well defined on the MCRS and Chirp data.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.216-219
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• 2008

As a future clean substitute energy, the Gas hydrate development projects are world widely carried out to prepare the shortage of petroleum and natural gas resources. The OIIP of gas hydrate is estimated approximately 10 Trillion LNG equivalent ton and it reaches almost the amount of 5 thousand years use for the world people. To develop the commercial production technology, several research projects like Malik and Alaska project have been carried by several advanced countries and teams, but nobody have succeeded it yet due to the technical problems and the high risks. The technologies developed up to now for the hydrate production are categorized to four methods, such as depressurization method, thermal recovery method, inhibitor injection method and replacement method. As these methods are highly related to the costs and the environmental problems, many other researches including the safety, environment and disaster prevention are actively fulfilled as well.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.11b
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• pp.241-246
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• 2000

Gas hydrates are solid solutions when water molecules are linked through hydrogen bondin create host lattice cavities that can enclose a large variety of guest gas molecules. The natural hydrate crystal may exist at low temperature above the normal freezing point of water and pressure greater than about 30 bars. A lot of quantities of natural gas hydrates exists in the ear many production schemes are being studied. In the present investigation, depressurization method considered to predict the production of gas and the simulation of the two phase flow - gas and - in porous media is being carried out. The simulation show about the fluid flow in porous have a variety of applications in industry. Results provide the appearance of gas and water prod the pressure profile, the saturation of gas/ water/ hydrates profiles and the location of the pl front.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.75-84
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• 2012

The sea layer in marine Controlled-Source Electromagnetic (mCSEM) survey changes the conventional definition of apparent resistivity which is used in the land CSEM survey. Thus, the development of a new algorithm, which computes apparent resistivity for mCSEM survey, can be an initiative of mCSEM data interpretation. First, we compared and analyzed electromagnetic responses of the 1D stratified gas hydrate model and the half-space model below the sea layer. Amplitude and phase components showed proper results for computing apparent resistivity than real and imaginary components. Next, the amplitude component is more sensitive to the subsurface resistivity than the phase component in far offset range and vice versa. We suggested the induction number as a selection criteria of amplitude or phase component to calculate apparent resistivity. Based on our study, we have developed a numerical algorithm, which computes appropriate apparent resistivity corresponding to measured mCSEM data using grid search method. In addition, we verified the validity of the developed algorithm by applying it to the stratified gas hydrate models with various model parameters. Finally, by constructing apparent resistivity pseudo-section from the mCSEM responses with 2D numerical models simulating gas hydrate deposits in the Ulleung Basin, we confirmed that the apparent resistivity can provide the information on the geometric distribution of the gas hydrate deposit.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.610-612
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• 2008

Piston cores retrieved from the eastern part of the deep-water Ulleung Basin were analyzed to access the potential of hydrocarbon gas generation and natural gas hydrate (NGH) formation. Seismic data acquired in the study area were also analyzed to determine the presence of hydrocarbon gas and/or NGH, and to map their distribution. Core analyses revealed high total organic carbon (TOC) contents which favor hydrocarbon generation. The cores recovered from the southern study area showed the sufficient residual hydrocarbon gas concentrations for the formation of significant NGH. These cores also showed the cracks developed parallel to the bedding that suggest significant gas content in situ. A number of seismic blanking zones were observed on seismic data. They are identified as vertical to sub-vertical chimneys caused by the upward migration of pore fluid or gas, and containing of free gas and/or NGH. Often, they are associated with velocity pull-up structures that are interpreted to be the result of high-velocity NGH. The seismic data also showed several bottom-simulating reflectors (BSRs) that are associated with overlying NGH and underlying free gas. The distribution of blanking zones and BSRs would be impacted by the lateral differences of upward methane fluxes.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.391-394
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• 2006

Growth characteristics of methane-propane clathrate hydrate, growing under different undercooling conditions, was investigated. After the water within pressurized vessel was fully saturated with guest gas molecules by agitation, medium was rapidly undercooled and maintained at the constant temperature. The growth of hydrate was always Initiated with film formations at the upper bounding surface of liquid pool. The visual observation using microscope revealed detailed features of subsequent crystal nucleation, migration, growth and interference occurring within liquid pool. A number of small crystals ascended and settled at the hydrate film. When undercooling was small $({\Delta}T=3.2K)$, some of the settled crystals slowly grew into faceted columns. As the undercooling increased, the downward growth of crystals underneath the hydrate film became dendritic and occurred with greater rate and with finer arm spacing. The shapes of the floating crystals were diverse and included octahedron and triangular or hexagonal platelet When the undercooling was small, the octahedral crystals were found dominant. As the undercooling increased, the shape of the floating crystals also became dendritic. The detailed characteristics of floating crystals were reported in this study.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.10
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• pp.1002-1010
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• 2015

Natural gas hydrates are newly emerging as an environment-friendly source of energy to substitute for fossil fuels in the 21stcentury.NGHs are reported to holds much amounts of natural gas (up to 182 standard volumes of gas per volume of hydrate); they are easy to store and safe to carry at about minus 20 degree Celsius under atmospheric pressure because of the self-preservation phenomenon of gas hydrates. The transporting method by gas-ice-hydrate ship carriers has been introduced and developed by a variety of industry and research institutions. Our team has been conducted to develop NGH total systems, including a breakthrough NGH carrier for sea transportation, since 2011. The NGH pellet carrier does not require a separate cooling system for cargo, and the initial temperature is maintained through insulation of the cargo tanks throughout the transport to the final destination. The heat conducted from the exterior and passing through the insulation material of the hull should be cut off as much as possible, but heat inflow inside the cargo tank from an external source is inevitable during transport. In this study, the heat transfer in a cargo tank of a 115K NGH carrier was analyzed through simulation with a commercial CFD code to estimate the boil-off gas/boil-off rate on the developed carrier and understand major hazards that could significantly impact the safety of the vessel.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.263-270
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• 2008

The Gas Hydrate Research and Development Organization (KGHDO) of Korea accomplished successfully geophysical logging (LWD: Logging While Drilling, MWD: Measurement While Drilling) for five sites in 2007, in order to investigate the presence of gas hydrate in the Ulleung Basin, the East Sea of Korea. The togging parameters acquired from LWD/MWD dre electrical resistivity, acoustic velocity, neutron density and porosity, and natural gamma. In addition, pressure, temperature, and diameter of borehole were measured. LWD/MWD data showed several evidences indicating the presence of gas hydrate. Based on LWD/MWD data, three coring sites were selected for sampling of gas hydrate. Subsequently, various gas hydrate samples were collected directly from three sites. Therefore. the presence of gas hydrates was verified by coring. LWD/MWD data will be significantly used to estimate the amount of gas hydrate. Also, they will provide important information to elucidate about sedimentologic characteristics of gas-hydrate bearing formation and sedimentary environment of the Ulleung Basin.