Fundamentals and Applications of Gas Hydrates

Abstract

Fundamental understanding of gas hydrate formation and decomposition processes is critical in many energy and environmental areas and has special importance in flow assurance for the oil and gas industry. These areas represent the core of gas hydrate applications, which, albeit widely studied, are still developing as growing fields of research. Discovering the molecular pathways and chemical and physical concepts underlying gas hydrate formation potentially can lead us beyond flowline blockage prevention strategies toward advancing new technological solutions for fuel storage and transportation, safely producing a new energy resource from natural deposits of gas hydrates in oceanic and arctic sediments, and potentially facilitating effective desalination of seawater. The state of the art in gas hydrate research is leading us to new understanding of formation and dissociation phenomena that focuses on measurement and modeling of time-dependent properties of gas hydrates on the basis of their well-established thermodynamic properties.

Gas Hydrate Formation Phase Boundary Behaviour of Synthetic Natural Gas System of the Keta Basin of Ghana

“…Gas hydrate is the trapping of gas molecules by hydrogen bonded water molecules at low temperature and high pressure condition [2]. Gas hydrates contain about 85 mol% of water cage-like molecules and are commonly formed in three different types of structures; cubic structure I (sI), cubic structure II (sII) and hexagonal structure H (sH) as shown in Fig.…”

“…However, N 2 and CO 2 showed negligible effect on the wet-gases systems. According to an experimental study by Lee and Kang [25] on natural gas hydrate of systems containing CH 4 , C 2 H 6 , C 3 H 8 , CO 2 or H 2 S in the presence of MeOH, MeOH inhibited all studied systems but varied based on phase behaviour of each system due to different compositions. The inhibition of MeOH was least in the presence of H 2 S as it expanded the hydrate forming zone.…”

Kinetics of Cyclopentane Hydrate Formation: An Interfacial Rheology Study

“…Indeed, this strengthens the interest in developing viable ways of commercially exploiting this unconventional gas resource. Estimates suggest that those deposits have at least twice the quantity of energy of all fossil fuel reserves available worldwide [5]. Other technological application is the use of hydrates to desalinate seawater.…”

“…Other technological application is the use of hydrates to desalinate seawater. The viability of this separation technique is not guaranteed yet but it can be a fruitful development to many countries [5], especially given the limited sources of freshwater and the high growth rate of human population. Another separation process under investigation is the one employing hydrates to extract CO 2 from flue gas exhausted by large power plants [6] in an attempt of reducing carbon emissions and mitigate climate change and global warming.…”

“…This solid compound is stabilized by van der Waals forces. Unlike the inorganic hydrates, the gas ones are nonstoichiometric [5,8,[29][30][31].…”