Before injecting any kinetic hydrate
inhibitor (KHI) into a flow
line, the standard procedure is to dissolve the chemical, which is
mostly a polymer, in a solvent such as water, methanol, or glycol.
It is ideal if the solvent synergizes with the KHI in hydrate inhibition.
In this paper, the synergy of three KHIs, poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP),
poly(vinyl caprolactam) (PVCap), and a natural biodegradable polymer
Pectin at 0.25 wt %, is investigated with one of the common solvents
monoethylene glycol at concentrations (0.5–20 wt %). The hydrate-inhibiting
performance of the KHIs and their solvent blends is evaluated using
an autoclave to measure the induction time (IT) and the molar hydrate
growth rate, which is approximately taken equal to the molar gas consumption
rate (HGR/GCR) in constant cooling rate tests and isothermal tests.
The individual hydrate inhibition testing results showed that MEG
alone at high dosages (up to 20 wt %) is a very poor KHI, while Pectin
is a moderate KHI with performance lower than the commercial KHIs
(PVP and PVCap) at similar concentrations. The hydrate growth rate
of Pectin is however, lower compared to that of both PVP and PVCap.
The blends of the KHIs with MEG, showed significant hydrate inhibition
synergy in all of the KHI–MEG blends with increasing MEG concentration
from 0.5 to 20 wt %. The synergy was maximum at 5 wt % of MEG for
all the KHIs with IT enhancement of around 50% for PVP and PVCap and
200% for Pectin. Almost 30–60% reduction in HGR was observed
in the blends compared to that of their individual KHI polymer HGRs.
Isothermal experiments at 1.5, 6, and 8 °C were done using KHI–MEG
blends to simulate possible field/subsea conditions. Among the three
KHIs at 0.25 wt % blended with 5 wt % of MEG at 6 °C, PVP–MEG
and Pectin–MEG blends gave an almost equal IT of 3.5 h, while
the PVCap–MEG blend gave a slightly higher IT of 4.55 h. The
HGR of the Pectin–MEG blend was however, the lowest (0.055
m/h) when compared to the PVP–MEG blend HGR (0.08 m/h) and
the PVCap–MEG blend HGR (0.075 m/h). Similar IT but lower HGR
values were found at 1.5 °C when 20 wt % of MEG with 0.25 wt
% of Pectin was used. No hydrates were formed up to 6 days with 0.25
wt % of Pectin and 5 wt % of MEG at 8 °C due to a low subcooling
of 1.3 °C. In summary, adding MEG to commercial KHIs such as
PVP, PVCap and natural KHI Pectin increases their IT tremendously
due to synergy and at the same time lowers their HGRs. As the blends
of Pectin–MEG are highly biodegradable, they can be used at
locations that have relatively low subcooling requirements and where
biodegradability and lower hydrate growth rate are essential as they
have similar ITs as that of PVP–MEG blends while lower HGRs
than both PVP–MEG and PVCap–MEG blends.