Study on methane hydrate formation in gas–water systems with a new compound promoter

Abstract

The effects of a new promoter on the growth kinetics of methane hydrates were investigated using a visualized constant-pressure autoclave. The experimental results show that when the 1#, 2# and 3# unit promoter was compounded at a ratio of 2 : 1 : 1, the induction time was shortened greatly from 30 h to 0.64 h compared to the no promoter situation. Meanwhile, there was a larger amount of hydrate formation, and final hydrate volume fraction was 83.652%. Then, the hydrate formation characteristics under different additive dosages (500 ppm, 1000 ppm, 2000 ppm, 5000 ppm) and different subcooling degrees (2.5 °C, 3.5 °C, 4.5 °C, 5.5 °C, 6.5 °C) were investigated. The new promoter at these 4 concentrations could effectively shorten the induction time. And the higher the concentration, the smaller the induction time (0.22 h at 5000 ppm). It was also found that gas consumption and hydrate production rate increased first and then decreased with increasing promoter dosage. Finally, the optimal dosage was determined to be 2000 ppm, at which the induction time was shortened to 0.52 h, and the final hydrate volume fraction was 85.74%. Under the dosage of 2000 ppm and the subcooling degree of 6.5 °C, the shortest induction time (0.29 h) and the maximum formation rate (20.950 ml h⁻¹) were obtained among all the experimental conditions in this work. Moreover, the greater the subcooling degree, the faster the hydrate nucleation, and the shorter the induction time. However, if the subcooling degree was too high, a hydrate layer formed rapidly at the gas–liquid interface in the autoclave, which would hinder hydrate formation and lead to the reduction of hydrate volume fraction to 60.153%. Therefore, a reasonable selection of the proportioning of promoters, dosage of the promoter and formation temperature could significantly promote the formation of hydrates. The findings in this work are meaningful to hydrate associated applications and can provide useful references for the selection of hydrate promoters.