Gas
hydrates have been proposed as a potential technology for a
number of applications, such as separation of gas mixtures, CO2 capture, transportation, and sequestration, methane storage
and transport, and seawater desalination. Most of these applications
will benefit from reduced induction time of hydrate nucleation, enhanced
hydrate growth rate, and maximum water-to-hydrate conversion. The
addition of surfactants to the gas–water system serves this
purpose in a very effective manner. This review focuses on different
surfactants that were utilized for gas hydrate formation studies;
insights have been provided on the possible mechanisms of action through
which these surfactants affect hydrate formation kinetics. A thorough
analysis of the existing literature on surfactants suggests that enhanced
rate of hydrate nucleation and growth kinetics may not be directly
linked to micelle formation. Conversely, reduced surface tension in
the presence of surfactants not only enhances the mass transfer but
also changes the morphology of hydrate formation, which in turn enhances
gas–water interactions for faster hydrate growth rate.
in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).The kinetics of gas hydrate growth from binary CH 4 /C 2 H 6 and CH 4 /C 3 H 8 and ternary CH 4 /C 2 H 6 /C 3 H 8 gas mixtures were obtained by the gas uptake method in a semibatch stirred vessel at constant pressure and a temperature of 273.7 K. These data are of interest for the design of facilities for natural gas storage and transportation in the solid (hydrate) state. During hydrate formation, samples from the gas phase were taken and analyzed by gas chromatography. It was found that the molar composition of CH 4 in the vapor phase increased as hydrate crystallization progressed. The observed fractionation effect (enrichment of the hydrate phase with propane) complicates the natural gas storage process. The fractionation effect was also confirmed with molecular-level studies where hydrate from the CH 4 /C 2 H 6 / C 3 H 8 gas mixture was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), NMR, and Raman spectroscopy. The hydrate phase composition and cage occupancy of each gas were calculated with the help of information obtained by Raman spectroscopy, gas chromatography, and PXRD. The results were consistent with those obtained by NMR. The composition of the gas phase and the hydrate are found to
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