Research advances on the dissociation dynamics of natural gas hydrates

Natural gas hydrate is a kind of clean energy with great development potential but is still not commercially developed due to the bottlenecks such as exploitation technology, economical efficiency, and environmental effects.In recent years, people have explored the application of hydrate technology in the field of CO2 capture, seawater desalination, energy storage, gas separation, etc. One of the most challenging and critical problems is how the hydrates are formed and decomposed at any time. This paper summarizes the fundamental research on hydrate decomposition dynamics, including hydrate decomposition properties, influencing factors, and dissociation mechanisms. Moreover, the paper reviews the development of hydrate dissociation dynamics models. The existing models are divided into four categories according to dissociation mechanisms: Thermal dissociation models, intrinsic dynamics models, mass transfer dissociation models and integrated models, and their assumptions, main understanding and limitations are highlighted. Future directions for improving hydrate dissociation dynamics research are foreseen to deepen the understanding of hydrate dissociation dynamics and promote the development and utilization of hydrates.