Structural Investigation of Methane Hydrate Sediments by Microfocus X-ray Computed Tomography Technique under High-Pressure Conditions

The structure of natural gas hydrate sediments was observed by microfocus X-ray computed tomography (CT). A newly developed high-pressure vessel for the microfocus X-ray CT system was applied to observe the sediments at a temperature above 273 K and under high-pressure conditions. The obtained two-dimensional CT images clearly showed the spatial distribution of the free-gas pore, sand particles, water, and hydrates. These results demonstrated that microfocus X-ray CT can be effective for studying natural gas hydrate sediment samples.