Inhibition Effect of Kinetic Hydrate Inhibitors on the Growth of Methane Hydrate in Gas–Liquid Phase Separation State

Liwei Cheng, Limin Wang, Zhi Li, Bei Liu and Guangjin Chen
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Liwei Cheng: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China
Limin Wang: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China
Zhi Li: Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Molecular engineering, QiLu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250353, China
Bei Liu: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China
Guangjin Chen: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 23, 1-12

Abstract: The effect of kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs) on the growth of methane hydrate in the gas–liquid phase separation state is studied at the molecular level. The simulation results show that the kinetic inhibitors, named PVP and PVP-A, show good inhibitory effects on the growth of methane hydrate under the gas–liquid phase separation state, and the initial position of the kinetic hydrate inhibitors has a major effect on the growth of methane hydrates. In addition, inhibitors at different locations exhibit different inhibition performances. When the inhibitor molecules are located at the gas–liquid phase interface, increasing the contact area between the groups of the inhibitor molecules and methane is beneficial to enhance the inhibitory performance of the inhibitors. When inhibitor molecules are located at the solid–liquid phase interface, the inhibitor molecules adsorbed on the surface of the hydrate nucleus and decreased the direct contact of hydrate nucleus with the surrounding water and methane molecules, which would delay the growth of hydrate nucleus. Moreover, the increase of hydrate surface curvature and the Gibbs–Thomson effect caused by inhibitors can also reduce the growth rate of methane hydrate.

Keywords: molecular dynamics; hydrate growth; methane hydrate; kinetic hydrate inhibitors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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