13C NMR analysis and gas uptake measurements of pure and mixed gas hydrates: Development of natural gas transport and storage method using gas hydrate

¹³C NMR spectra were obtained for pure CH₄, mixed CH₄+THF, and mixed CH₄+Neohexane hydrates in order to identify hydrate structure and cage occupancy of guest molecules. In contrast to the pure CH₄ hydrates, the NMR spectra of the mixed CH₄+THF hydrate verified that methane molecules could occupy only the small portion of 5¹² cages because the addition of THF, water-soluble guest component, to aqueous solution prevents the complete filling of methane molecules into small cages. Furthermore, from these NMR results one important conclusion can be made that methane molecules can’t be enclathrated at all in the large 5¹²6⁴ cages of structure II. In addition, gas uptake measurements were carried out to determine methane amount consumed during pure and mixed hydrate formation process. The moles of methane captured into pure CH₄ hydrate per mole of water were found to be similar to the full occupancy value, while the moles of methane captured into the mixed CH₄+THF hydrate per moles of water were much lower than the ideal value. The overall results drawn from this study can be usefully applied to storage and transportation of natural gas.     

Gas hydrate formation from hydrogen/carbon dioxide and nitrogen/carbon dioxide gas mixtures

Gas hydrates from CO₂/N₂ and CO₂/H₂ gas mixtures were formed in a semi-batch stirred vessel at constant pressure and temperature of 273.7 K. These mixtures are of interest to CO₂ separation and recovery from flue gas and fuel gas, respectively. During hydrate formation the gas uptake was determined and the composition changes in the gas phase were obtained by gas chromatography. The rate of hydrate growth from CO₂/H₂ mixtures was found to be the fastest. In both mixtures CO₂ was found to be preferentially incorporated into the hydrate phase. The observed fractionation effect is desirable and provides the basis for CO₂ capture from flue gas or fuel gas mixtures. The separation from fuel gas is also a source of H₂. The impact of tetrahydrofuran (THF) on hydrate formation from the CO₂/N₂ mixture was also observed. THF is known to substantially reduce the equilibrium formation conditions enabling hydrate formation at much lower pressures. THF was found to reduce the induction time and the rate of hydrate growth.     

Quantitative analysis of CO2 hydrate formation in porous media by proton NMR

Gas hydrate is a nonstoichiometric crystal compound formed from water and gas. Most nonvisual studies on gas hydrate are unable to detect how much water is converted to hydrates, and thus, the hydrate stoichiometry calculations are inaccurate. This study investigated the CO₂ hydrate formation process in porous media directly and quantitatively. The characteristics of the time-variable consumption of hydrate formation indicated a two-stage formation, hydrate enclathration and continuous occupancy. The enclathration stage occurred in the first 20 min of the formation when considerable heat is released. The continuous occupancy stage lasted longer than the hydrate enclathration because the empty cages in previously formed hydrates would also be occupied. The higher formation pressures can accelerate water consumption and increase cage occupancy. The compositions of completely formed CO₂ hydrates at 2.7, 3.0, and 3.3 MPa and 275.15 K were determined as CO₂·6.90H₂O, CO₂·6.70H₂O, and CO₂·6.49H₂O, respectively.     

Enclathration of hydrogen by organic-compound clathrate hydrates

The properties of hydrogen enclathration by cyclic ethers and acetone clathrate hydrates were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopic analysis and volumetric analysis. Powder X-ray diffraction profiles indicate that the hydrates are structure-II hydrates. The variation in lattice constant by hydrogen occupation was investigated. This result indicates that inclusion of H₂ atom within empty small cage changes size of host cages depending on type of guest molecule. Raman results show that the samples formed binary clathrate hydrate of hydrogen and each organic compound. The amount of encaged H₂ was found to be comparable to that of H₂–THF binary hydrate. The trend of the changes for lattice constants is not related to the amount of encaged H₂. These results suggest that the organic compounds investigated in this study can be used as alternatives to THF for H₂ enclathration.     

In situ injection of THF to trigger gas hydrate crystallization: Application to the evaluation of a kinetic hydrate promoter

This paper investigates an original method to efficiently trigger gas hydrate crystallization. This method consists of an in situ injection of a small amount of THF into an aqueous phase in contact with a gas-hydrate-former phase at pressure and temperature conditions inside the hydrate metastable zone. In the presence of a CO₂–CH₄ gas mixture, our results show that the THF injection induces immediate crystallization of a first hydrate containing THF. This triggers the formation of the CO₂–CH₄ binary hydrate as proven by the pressure and temperature reached at equilibrium. This experimental method, which “cancels out” the stochasticity of the hydrate crystallization, was used to evaluate the effect of the anionic surfactant SDS at different concentrations, on the formation kinetics of the CO₂–CH₄ hydrate. The results are discussed and compared with those published in a recent article (Ricaurte et al., 2013), where THF was not injected but present in the aqueous phase from the beginning and at much higher concentrations.     

二氧化碳水合物浆在圆管中的流动特性

实验研究了固相分数为8.2%～23.1%的CO₂水合物浆在内径为8 mm的圆管中的流动特性。结果发现水合物浆在管内的流动压降随着流速的增加而增大。当流速低于0.60 m·s^-1时,浆体流变指数小于1,且随着固相体积分数的增大而减小,CO₂水合物浆为H-B流体,其表观黏度随着流速的增大而减小,呈剪切变稀特性。剪切速率为600 s^-1时,CO₂水合物浆的表观黏度为8.5～10.6 mPa·s。实验得到了CO₂水合物浆的流变特征参数及其流变方程,可为CO₂水合物浆的流动及其应用研究提供理论指导。     

A theoretical prediction of cage occupancy and heat of dissociation of THF-CH4 hydrate

This work presents a theoretical prediction of the cage occupancy of CH₄ in small cages and the heat of dissociation for THF-CH₄ hydrate using the predictive Soave-Redlich-Kwong group contribution method combined with the UNIFAC model. The predicted cage occupancy of CH₄ gradually increases with increasing pressure, indicating that the CH₄ molecules could readily be encaged in the small 5¹² cages of the sII hydrate framework stabilized by THF molecules. The molar enthalpy of encagement of CH₄ in the small 5¹² cages of the sII clathrate hydrate is estimated to be 26.7±1.7 kJ mol^?1.     

Structure and composition of CO2/H2 and CO2/H2/C3H8 hydrate in relation to simultaneous CO2 capture and H2 production

Gas hydrates from a (40/60 mol %) CO₂/H₂ mixture, and from a (38.2/59.2/2.6 mol %) CO₂/H₂/C₃H₈ mixture, were synthesized using ice powder. The gas uptake curves were determined from pressure drop measurements and samples were analyzed using spectroscopic techniques to identify the structure and determine the cage occupancies. Powder X‐ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis at ?110°C was used to determine the crystal structure. From the PXRD measurement it was found that the CO₂/H₂ hydrate is structure I and shows a self‐preservation behavior similar to that of CO₂ hydrate. The ternary gas mixture was found to form pure structure II hydrate at 3.8 MPa. We have applied attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopic analysis to measure the CO₂ distribution over the large and small cavities. ¹H MAS NMR and Raman were used to follow H₂ enclathration in the small cages of structure I, as well as structure II hydrate. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009     

Kinetic investigation of CO2 and N2 clathrate hydrate formation using cyclopentane: Application in desalination

Hydrate-based desalination could be a promising technique for producing fresh water from saline water, as it is an eco-friendly process and suitable for large-scale implementation. To make the hydrate-based desalination technology easily scalable, we looked at using air (or N₂) or CO₂ as a hydrate former, along with cyclopentane (CP). Hydrate former CP helps to reduce the operating conditions, as CP forms hydrate at ambient pressure. However, hydrate formation kinetics due to water-insoluble CP is slow. In this work, the kinetics of hydrate formation in saline water were investigated and compared to identify the utility of CO₂ and N₂ as hydrate formers for desalination work. The addition of CP as a hydrate former should transform the structure of CO₂ hydrate from structure I (sI) to structure II (sII), as CP occupies the large cages (5¹²6⁴) in the gas hydrate. A set of three similar reactors were used for this study to collect data quickly. Furthermore, the triple reactor setup is a unique reactor design mounted on a shaker, and a set of SS-316 balls present inside the horizontal reactor imparts the mixing. Experiments with the CO₂-CP mixture and N₂-CP mixture have been studied in the presence or absence of 3 wt.% NaCl at 274 K and 3 MPa pressure. The gas uptake kinetics, water recovery, and separation efficiency have been investigated.     

Pressure variation due to heat shock of CO2hydrate desserts

CO₂ hydrate desserts are carbonated frozen desserts in which the CO₂ is trapped in a crystalline water‐carbon dioxide structure called a CO₂ clathrate hydrate. The CO₂ concentration of the dessert enables strong perception of carbonation, but CO₂ hydrate dissociation during heat shock can cause high package pressures during storage and distribution. In this work, a model is developed for package pressure as a function of temperature, CO₂ content, package volume, dessert mass, and recipe. The model is validated by comparison with an experimental measurement of the pressure and mass of a CO₂ hydrate dessert subjected to heat shock. It is shown that during heat shock a sealed package can reach pressures greater than the ice‐CO₂ hydrate equilibrium pressure. At pressures above the ice‐CO₂ hydrate equilibrium pressure, the fraction of water crystallized in the dessert can be increased, potentially mitigating heat shock damage. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012     

Study on the influence of SDS and THF on hydrate-based gas separation performance

Hydrate additives can be used to mitigate hydrate formation conditions, promote hydrate growth rate and improve separation efficiency. CO₂ + N₂ and CO₂ + CH₄ systems with presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) or tetrahydrofuran (THF) are studied to analyze the effect of hydrate additives on gas separation performance. The experiment results show that CO₂ can be selectively enriched in the hydrate phase. SDS can speed up the hydrate growth rate by facilitating gas molecules solubilization. When SDS concentration increases, split and loss fraction increase initially and then decrease slightly, resulting in a decreased separation factor. The optimum concentration of SDS exists at the range of 100–300 ppm. As THF can be easily encaged in hydrate cavities, hydrate formation condition can be mitigated greatly with its existence. Additionally, THF can also strengthen hydrate formation. The THF effect on separation performance is related to feed gas components. CO₂ occupies the small cavities of type II hydrate prior to N₂. But the competitiveness of CO₂ and CH₄ to occupy cavities are quite fair. The variations of split fraction, loss fraction and separation factor depend on the concentration of THF added. The work in this paper has a positive role in flue gas CO₂ capture and natural gas de-acidification.     

Metastable states during dissociation of carbon dioxide hydrates below 273 K

In this study, the dissociation of isolated carbon dioxide hydrate particles of sizes in the range 0.25–2.5 mm was investigated. It was found that below the ice melting point, the hydrates dissociated into supercooled water (metastable liquid) and gas. The formation of the liquid phase during CO₂ hydrate dissociation was visually observed, and the pressures of the hydrate dissociation into supercooled water and gas were measured in the temperature range 249–273 K. These pressures agreed well with the calculated data for the supercooled water–hydrate–gas metastable equilibrium (Istomin et al., 2006). In the P–T area on the phase diagram bounded by the ice–hydrate–gas equilibrium curve and the supercooled water–hydrate–gas metastable equilibrium curve, hydrates could exist for a long time because the metastable phase and their stability are not connected to the self-preservation effect. The growth of the metastable CO₂ hydrate film on the surface of supercooled water droplets formed during the hydrate dissociation was observed at pressure above the three-phase supercooled water–hydrate–gas metastable equilibrium pressure but still below the three-phase ice–hydrate–gas equilibrium pressure. It was found that the growth rate of the metastable CO₂ hydrate film was higher by a factor of 25 and 50 than that for methane hydrate and propane hydrate, respectively.     

Impact of water film thickness on kinetic rate of mixed hydrate formation during injection of CO2 into CH4 hydrate

In this work, nonequilibrium thermodynamics and phase field theory (PFT) has been applied to study the kinetics of phase transitions associated with CO₂ injection into systems containing CH₄ hydrate, free CH₄ gas, and varying amounts of liquid water. The CH₄ hydrate was converted into either pure CO₂ or mixed CO₂?CH₄ hydrate to investigate the impact of two primary mechanisms governing the relevant phase transitions: solid‐state mass transport through hydrate and heat transfer away from the newly formed CO₂ hydrate. Experimentally proven dependence of kinetic conversion rate on the amount of available free pore water was investigated and successfully reproduced in our model systems. It was found that rate of conversion was directly proportional to the amount of liquid water initially surrounding the hydrate. When all of the liquid has been converted into either CO₂ or mixed CO₂?CH₄ hydrate, a much slower solid‐state mass transport becomes the dominant mechanism. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 3944–3957, 2015     

Notes on the dissolution rate of gas hydrates in undersaturated water

An elementary model for the dissolution of pure hydrate in undersaturated water is proposed that combines intrinsic decomposition within a desorption film and the subsequent diffusion of the released hydrate guest species into bulk water. Applying the proposed approach to recently published measurements of the decomposition rates of methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) hydrates in deep seawater suggests that the concentration of the hydrate guest species at the interface between desorption film and diffusive boundary layer may be much lower than ambient solubility. Calculations, however, fail to account for the observed proportionality of decomposition rate with solubility for both CH₄ and CO₂ hydrates. This may indicate a limitation in the range of applicability of published formulas for intrinsic hydrate decomposition rates.     

Equilibrium and crystallographic measurements of the binary tetrahydrofuran and helium clathrate hydrates

Clathrate compounds are crystalline materials formed by a physical interaction between host and relatively light guest molecules. Various types of nano-sized cages surrounded by host frameworks exist in the highly unique crystalline structures and free guest molecules are entrapped in an open host-guest network. Recently, we reported two peculiar phenomena, swapping and tuning, naturally occurring in the hydrate cages. Helium, one of the smallest light guest molecules, must be the challengeable material in the sense of physics and moreover possesses versatile applications in the field of superconductivity technology and thermonuclear industry. In this regard, we attempted for the first time to synthesize helium hydrates at moderate temperature and pressure conditions. According to inclusion phenomena, helium itself normally cannot form clathrate hydrates due to being too small molecularly without the help of hydrate former molecules (sI, sII, and sH formers). In this study, the hydrate equilibria of the binary clathrate hydrate containing tetrahydrofuran, helium, and water were determined at 2, 3, 5.56 THF mol%. Direct volumetric measurements were also carried out to confirm the exact amount of helium captured in the hydrate cages. Finally, the crystalline structure of the formed mixed hydrates was identified by powder X-ray diffraction, resulting in structure II.     

Thermodynamic properties of F-22(CHClF2) hydrate for use in desalting

In this study are reported the pressure-temperature phase diagrams of F-22 in both pure water and aqueous NaCl solutions in the region where the hydrate forms. From these data we have determined the hydrate decomposition conditions and the invariant points including the eutectic. These are the necessary thermo-dynamic data for evaluating F-22 as an agent for use in the hydrate process for desalination of sea water. Other thermal, mechanical, and economic properties of pure F-22 are well known, e.g. duPont data (1). Kinetic data on the rate of formation of the hydrate in a stirred reactor will be reported at a later date.     

A study of gas transport through interfacially formed poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) membranes

Gas transport through interfacially formed poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) membranes was investigated. The membrane performance for the separation of binary CO₂/N₂, CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/H₂ mixtures was studied, and the coupling effects between the permeating species were evaluated by comparing the permeance of individual components in the mixture with their pure gas permeance. For the permeation of these binary gas mixtures, the presence of CO₂ was shown to influence the permeation of the other components (i.e., N₂, H₂ and CH₄), whereas the permeation of CO₂ was not affected by these components. In consideration that water vapor is often encountered in applications involving CO₂ separation, the presence of water vapor on the membrane permselectivity was also studied. When hydrated, the membrane was shown to be more permeable to CO₂, while the membrane selectivity did not change significantly. Unlike membranes based on size-sieving of penetrant molecules, the present membranes exploit the favorable interactions between the hydrophilic quaternary amines in the membrane and CO₂, especially in the presence of water vapor in the feed.     

Extraction of methane hydrate energy by carbon dioxide injection-key challenges and a paradigm shift

Significant effort including field work has been devoted to develop a natural gas extraction technology from natural gas hydrate reservoirs through the injection of carbon dioxide. Natural gas hydrate is practically methane hydrate. The hypothesis is that carbon dioxide will be stored as hydrate owing to its favorable stability conditions compared to methane hydrate. Although the dynamics of the CO₂/CH₄ exchange process are not entirely understood it is established that the exchange process is feasible. The extent is limited but even if the CH₄ recovery is optimized there is a need for a CH₄/CO₂ separation plant to enable a complete cyclic sequence of CO₂ capture, injection and CH₄ recovery. In this paper we propose an alternative paradigm to the Inject (CO₂)/Exchange with (CH₄)/Recover (CH₄) one namely Recover (CH₄) first and then Inject (CO₂) for Storage.     

Thermodynamic and spectroscopic identification of aldehyde hydrates

-It has been reported that some aldehyde compounds have formed simple sII clathrate hydrates without help-gas molecules, showing a self-forming effect. However, the structure of aldehyde hydrates is quite unstable due to the “gem-diol reaction”. According to the previous studies, the aldehyde hydrate slowly decomposes at atmospheric condition with the conversion of aldehyde to gem-diol. We investigated binary aldehyde (acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, and isobutyraldehyde)+methane clathrate hydrate with spectroscopic and thermodynamic analyses. Similar to the simple aldehyde hydrate, the binary hydrates also formed a sII hydrate. During the hydrate formation process, we found that most of the aldehydes converted to gem-diols and were then incorporated into the large cages of the sII hydrate. Depending on the equilibrium constant of the gem-diol reaction caused by the molecular structures of the three aldehydes, different phase equilibrium curves of aldehyde+methane hydrates were obtained.