METHOD FOR PRODUCING CLATHRATE HYDRATE OF NATURAL GAS AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCTION

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for producing a clathrate hydrate of natural gas with which the natural gas and water are efficiently subjected to a binding reaction to produce the clathrate hydrate and high storage efficiency and high transportation efficiency are thereby realized without requiring a dehydration step of removing the unreacted water in the subsequent step and to provide an apparatus therefor. SOLUTION: The apparatus 1 for producing the clathrate hydrate 4 of the natural gas comprises a compressor 10 for compressing the natural gas 2, a water saturation column 12 for keeping the natural gas 2 in a saturated state of water 3, an adiabatic expansion mechanism 15 for adiabatically expanding the natural gas 2 in the saturated state and a clathrate hydrate separation vessel 16 for keeping the natural gas 2 in the saturated state at a low temperature by the adiabatic expansion, producing the clathrate hydrate 4 and separating the resultant clathrate hydrate 4 from the unreacted natural gas 2. COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO