Gas hydrates

Abstract

After a short introduction giving the definition of gas hydrates, their structures and their formation conditions and occurrences in nature, this article will focus on the thermodynamic properties and kinetics of gas hydrate formation. The article will inform about the state of knowledge regarding the influence of the guest molecule properties on the stability and dissociation enthalpies of hydrate phases, the occurrences of coexisting phases and structural transformations. It will present the main hypothesis on the hydrate nucleation process and recent results on hydrate formation kinetics. In addition to the fundamental knowledge more applied topics, such as the recent development of methods for the production of methane from hydrate bearing sediments will be presented.