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Influences of water media on the hydrogen isotopic composition of natural gas/methane in the processes of gaseous hydrocarbon generation and evolution

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Abstract

The influences of water media on the hydrogen isotopic composition of organic-thermogenic natural gas were tested in three series of experiments on coal pyrolysis, with no water, deionized water (\(\delta D_{H_2 O} \)=−58‰), and seawater (\(\delta D_{H_2 O} \)=−4.8‰) added, respectively. The experimental results show that the productivities of H2 and CO2 obviously increased under hydrous conditions and that the productivity of CH4 also remarkably increased in the high-evolution phase of hydrous experiments. Water was involved in the chemical reaction of hydrocarbon generation, and then the hydrogen isotopic composition of methane was affected. There is a linear correlation between the hydrogen isotopic composition of methane and its productivity, as reflected in the three series of experiments. In the case of the same CH4 productivity, the hydrogen isotopic composition of the methane produced in anhydrous experiments was the heaviest, that of the methane produced in seawater-adding experiments came second, and that of the methane produced in deionized water-adding experiments was the lightest. The hydrogen isotopic composition of natural gas/methane is affected by the following factors: 1) the characteristics of hydrogen isotopic composition of organic matter in source rocks, 2) the thermal evolution extent of organic matter, and 3) fossil-water media in the natural gas-generation period. The experimental results show that the influence of the fossil-water medium in the natural gas-generation period was lower than that of the other factors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources Research, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    XiaoFeng Wang, YongChang Xu & JianJing Zheng

  2. Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Production, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, Beijing, 100083, China

    WenHui Liu

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  1. XiaoFeng Wang
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  2. WenHui Liu
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Correspondence to XiaoFeng Wang.

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Wang, X., Liu, W., Xu, Y. et al. Influences of water media on the hydrogen isotopic composition of natural gas/methane in the processes of gaseous hydrocarbon generation and evolution. Sci. China Earth Sci. 54, 1318–1325 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-011-4195-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-011-4195-0

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