Amphiphilic Block Copolymers with Vinyl Caprolactam as Kinetic Gas Hydrate Inhibitors

Faraz Rajput, Milan Maric and Phillip Servio
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Faraz Rajput: Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada
Milan Maric: Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada
Phillip Servio: Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: Macrosurfactants consisting of water-soluble poly(vinylcaprolactam) (PVCap) or poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) segments with comparatively shorter hydrophobic poly(styrene) (PS) or poly(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorostyrene) (PPFS) segments were used as kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs). These were synthesized with 2-cyanopropan-2-yl N -methyl- N -(pyridin-4-yl)dithiocarbamate switchable reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) agent at 60 °C or 90 °C for 1-P(S/PFS) or 1-PVCap, respectively, followed by chain extension at 90 °C or 70 °C with PVCap or PVP, respectively. The addition of PVCap to the pure methane-water system resulted in a 53% reduction of methane consumption (comparable to PVP with 51% inhibition) during the initial growth phase. A PS-PVCap block copolymer comprised of 10 mol% PS and 90 mol% PVCap improved inhibition to 56% compared to the pure methane-water system with no KHIs. Substituting PS with a more hydrophobic PPFS segment further improved inhibition to 73%. By increasing the ratio of the hydrophobic PS- to PVCap- groups in the polymer, an increase of its inhibition potential was measured. For PPFS-PVCap, an increase of PPFS ratio from 5% to 10% decreased the methane formation rate by 6%. However, PPFS-PVCap block copolymers with more than 20 mol% PPFS were unable to dissolve in water due to increase in hydrophobicity and the attendant low critical micelle concentration (CMC).

Keywords: amphiphilic block copolymer; kinetic hydrate inhibitors; switchable reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) agent (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: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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