The direct phase coexistence method is used for the determination of the three-phase coexistence line of sI methane hydrates. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are carried out in the isothermal-isobaric ensemble in order to determine the coexistence temperature (T3) at four different pressures, namely, 40, 100, 400, and 600 bar. Methane bubble formation that results in supersaturation of water with methane is generally avoided. The observed stochasticity of the hydrate growth and dissociation processes, which can be misleading in the determination of T3, is treated with long simulations in the range of 1000-4000 ns and a relatively large number of independent runs. Statistical averaging of 25 runs per pressure results in T3 predictions that are found to deviate systematically by approximately 3.5 K from the experimental values. This is in good agreement with the deviation of 3.15 K between the prediction of TIP4P/Ice water force field used and the experimental melting temperature of ice Ih. The current results offer the most consistent and accurate predictions from MD simulation for the determination of T3 of methane hydrates. Methane solubility values are also calculated at the predicted equilibrium conditions and are found in good agreement with continuum-scale models.

The direct phase coexistence methodology was used to predict the three-phase equilibrium conditions of carbon dioxide hydrates. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed in the isobaric-isothermal ensemble for the determination of the three-phase coexistence temperature (T3) of the carbon dioxide-water system, at pressures in the range of 200-5000 bar. The relative importance of the water-water and water-guest interactions in the prediction of T3 is investigated. The water-water interactions were modeled through the use of TIP4P/Ice and TIP4P/2005 force fields. The TraPPE force field was used for carbon dioxide, and the water-guest interactions were probed through the modification of the cross-interaction Lennard-Jones energy parameter between the oxygens of the unlike molecules. It was found that when using the classic Lorentz-Berthelot combining rules, both models fail to predict T3 accurately. In order to rectify this problem, the water-guest interaction parameters were optimized, based on the solubility of carbon dioxide in water. In this case, it is shown that the prediction of T3 is limited only by the accuracy of the water model in predicting the melting temperature of ice.

We introduce a simple correction to the calculation of the lattice constants of fully occupied structure sI methane or carbon dioxide pure hydrates that are obtained from classical molecular dynamics simulations using the TIP4PQ/2005 water force field. The obtained corrected lattice constants are subsequently used in order to obtain isobaric thermal expansion coefficients of the pure gas hydrates that exhibit a trend that is significantly closer to the experimental behavior than previously reported classical molecular dynamics studies.

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Over the past two decades, the pharmaceutical and specialty chemical industries have led a considerable effort toward transitioning from existing batch to continuous flow processes. The transition promises many benefits, including improved automation, simpler scale-up, and higher throughput. The switch from batch reactor vessels to continuous flow reactors (CFRs) is among the most challenging problems that must be solved to succeed in making the batch to continuous process switch, and the best methodology by which the feasibility of the switch can be determined remains an open problem. In this work, we offer a novel, optimization-based framework for assessing the feasibility of the switch. Starting from first principles, we develop a general nondimensionalization algorithm for describing an arbitrary reactive system. We then define nondimensional performance metrics that allow us to assign "scores" for a given batch reactor or CFR. Finally, we construct two optimization problems that (1) minimize the difference in total performance between an existing batch reactor and a potential new CFR and (2) separately maximize the total performance of the two reactors. The design variables for each reactor are allowed to vary between realistic bounds for the particular reactor vessel type. Problem 1 provides insight into whether the switch is feasible, while problem 2 provides insight into whether the switch is desirable. Finally, we illustrate the utility of our framework using two case studies.