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研究論文:Development of methane hydrate production method(長尾)−96−Synthesiology Vol.5 No.2(2012)AuthorJiro NagaoCompleted the two-years masters course at the Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University in 1991. Joined the Government Industrial Research Institute, Hokkaido, Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1991 (current AIST). Received Doctor (Engineering) in 2000 from Hokkaido University. Became the leader of the Production Technology Team, Methane Hydrate Research Center in 2009. Also became the leader of the Research Group for Production Method and Modeling of the MH21 Research Consortium in 2010. Engaged in research of physics and chemistry of clathrate materials and development of production method and modelling of gas hydrate resources. Discussions with Reviewers1 General construction of the manuscriptComment (Hiroshi Tateishi, The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO))For the development of the gas production technology from methane gas hydrate reservoirs, this manuscript first explains the overview of Japan’s Methane Hydrate Research and Development Program, and then the development of the apparatus for methane hydrate production tests carried out by the author is described. The construction of the manuscript is rather unusual, because the experimental results from the apparatus have not yet been obtained at present. In spite of this fact, the manuscript is acceptable after revision because publication of such type of manuscript is requested from the outside. From the standpoint of the journal, Synthesiology, the manuscript lacks issues as pointed out in the following comments. From the viewpoint of “synthesis”, there is a dual structure of synthesis: one is micro-level technology synthesis to integrate elemental technologies toward the development of the apparatus which is the main purpose of the present manuscript, and the other is macro-level system synthesis to integrate the results obtained with the apparatus toward the development of the production system. For the revision of the manuscript, please take these points into consideration.Answer (Jiro Nagao)Concerning the development of a large-scale laboratory apparatus for the optimization of production conditions toward commercial utilization of methane hydrate, the outline of the program, the R&D issues of the Research Group for Production Method and Modeling of MH21 Consortium coordinated by the MHRC at AIST, and the important issues to be analyzed with this apparatus have been described. In response to the reviewer’s [15][16]Y. Konno, Y. Masuda, H. Oyama, M. Kurihara and H. Ouchi: Numerical Analysis on the Rate-Determining Factors of Depressurization-Induced Gas Production from Methane Hydrate Cores, Proc. Offshore Technology Conference 2010, 20591 (2010).J. Schicks, E. Spangenberg, R. Giese, B. Steinhauer, J. Klump and M. Luzi: New Approaches for the Production of Hydrocarbons from Hydrate Bearing Sediments, Energies, 4, 151 (2011). comments, the author has added and revised the description in the text and the reference. However, the development of the production system depends not only on the production method, but also on the economic evaluation of methane production including the combination of machines in production tests at the sea bed conducted by JOGMEC. Thus, it is difficult to consider the validity of the production system based only on the tests with the large-scale apparatus. Therefore, the author has not described the development of the production system in this paper.2 The role of MHRCComment ((Hiroshi Tateishi)In the latter half of "2. Overview" section, the goals of R&D issues in phase 2 at MHRC are explained. However, the description is sudden and difficult to understand for the readers since the relevance of phase 2 with phase 1 is not explained. Brief explanation for the following points is required: why MHRC is assigned for this part of R&D, what kind of results MHRC obtained in phase 1, and how the results obtained in phase 1 are connected to phase 2. Answer (Jiro Nagao)The author has added the following explanation. At the start of the program, the Methane Hydrate Research Laboratory of AIST (the present Methane Hydrate Research Center) participated in the MH21 Consortium as the research supervisor of R&D of production method & modeling in phase 1 since the laboratory had high level knowledge on methane hydrate engineering. The foregoing explanation has been connected to the subsequent description of implementation challenges and the research results. It has been found that depressurization is effective for the gas production method from the methane hydrate resource as a research result in phase 1. The finding is linked to the research purpose of phase 2 (technology advancement toward commercialization).3 Development of 1m-size test apparatusComment (Hioshi Tateishi )1. I can understand the logic that thermal decomposition is dominant in cm-size samples whereas mass transfer is dominant in the actual 100m-size bed, therefore a test filling the gap in between is required. Yet it is difficult to judge the adequateness of the specifications of the apparatus since no quantitative explanation is given on the scale boundary that separates the dominant factors. It seems difficult to set a strict boundary, but explanation is required such as, “Since critical scale is around this level because of such and such reasons, a 1m-size apparatus is adequate enough”. 2. Since the explanation of the specifications of the apparatus is simply listed, it is not clear where the focus is. For example, if the author arranges the explanation in the order of main items to test with the apparatus, technological issues and required functions to achieve the issues, the ways to clear the issues, the readers can understand the idea more easily. Especially, the manuscript lacks the explanation of originality of the MHRC.3. The author briefly explains the large-scale production apparatus LARS developed by the SUGAR Project in Germany. Since only the size is mentioned, it is difficult to understand the significance of the comparison. Please describe the purpose and design concept of the LARS and explain the difference of the two apparatuses, LARS and the apparatus of MHRC.Answer (Jiro Nagao)1. In order to design our apparatus, we have focused on solving the problem of predominant factors of hydrate dissociation. The sample size dependence of the rate-determining step has been investigated by using the production simulator, MH21-HYDRES. Another study shows that in the case of

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