Investigation on the adsorption properties and adsorption layer thickness during CH4 flow driven by pressure gradient in nano-slits

In shale gas exploration, gas adsorbed on the surface of porous medium results in a change in pore size, which is closely relevant to permeability, flow rate, and production capacity of shale gas reservoirs, especially for the reservoir containing large numbers of pores and slits. Thus, the present work investigates the adsorption mechanism and adsorption layer thickness during CH4 flow driven by the pressure gradient in nano-slits by using molecular dynamics simulation. Herein, a slit-pore model in terms of gas storage and grapheme pore is developed, implemented, and verified. The effects of the pressure, temperature, pressure gradient, and pore size on adsorption properties and adsorption layer thickness of CH4 are also examined. Results show that the relative adsorption capacity is positively correlated with the pressure gradient and pore size and negatively correlated with the system pressure, whereas unaffected by temperature. Moreover, the adsorption layer thickness decreases with the pressure and is almost unaffected by the pore size under the small pore size, whereas increasing with the pressure gradient and temperature. The descending order of sensibility to the adsorption layer thickness is temperature, pressure gradient, pore size, and system pressure. Hence, based on those findings, a new formula for calculating the adsorption layer thickness is proposed for the quantitative determination of the effective pore size of porous medium when gas flows in slits, thereby contributing to shale gas high-efficient exploration.