High pressure micromechanical force measurements of the effects of surface corrosion and salinity on CH4/C2H6 hydrate particle–surface interactions

Abstract

In order to investigate the mechanism of gas hydrate deposition and agglomeration in gas dominated flowlines, a high-pressure micromechanical force (MMF) apparatus was applied to directly measure CH₄/C₂H₆ hydrate adhesion/cohesion forces under low temperature and high pressure conditions. A CH₄/C₂H₆ gas mixture was used as the hydrate former. Adhesion forces between hydrate particles and carbon steel (CS) surfaces were measured, and the effects of corrosion on adhesion forces were analyzed. The influences of NaCl concentration on the cohesion force between CH₄/C₂H₆ hydrate particles were also studied for gas-dominated systems. It was observed that there was no measurable adhesion force for pristine (no corrosion) and corroded surfaces, when there was no condensed water or water droplet on these surfaces. With water on the surface (the estimated water amount was around 1.7 μg mm⁻²), a hydrate film growth process was observed during the measurement. CS samples were soaked in NaCl solution to obtain different extents of corrosion on surfaces, and adhesion measurements were performed on both pristine and corroded samples. The adhesion force was found to increase with increasing soak times in 5 wt% NaCl (resulting in more visual corrosion) by up to 500%. For the effect of salinity on cohesion forces, it was found that the presence of NaCl decreased the cohesion force between hydrate particles, and a possible explanation of this phenomenon was given based on the capillary liquid bridge model.