Kinetics of structure II gas hydrate formation for propane and ethane using an in-situ particle size analyzer and a Raman spectrometer

The kinetics of structure II gas hydrates, formed from pure propane and a mixture of propane and ethane, were investigated and intrinsic rate constants were regressed from the experimental data. The experiments were conducted in a semi-batch stirred tank reactor equipped with an in-situ particle size analyzer and connected to an external Raman spectrometer. Experiments were conducted with pure propane at temperatures ranging from 274 to 276 K and pressures ranging from 0.39 to 0.43 MPa. The intrinsic rate constant for ethane in structure II was subsequently regressed from experimental data on the formation of hydrates formed from an equimolar mixture of propane and ethane at 274 K and 0.35 MPa. Raman spectroscopy was used to verify that ethane was present only in the large sII cavity.