Application of hydrophobic particles in the formation kinetics of methane hydrate in water-in-oil emulsion

Abstract

Aiming at the problem of natural gas hydrate blockage inside oil and gas pipelines, the key to reasonably suppress the formation of hydrates in pipelines is to find the factors that cause the hydrates to coalesce quickly. Since carbonates and silicon-containing substances are the main components of impurities in mining, the formation of methane hydrate has been studied. The emulsion was formulated with Span85 and SDS, and the formation rate and growth morphology of the hydrate were studied by adding nano-calcium carbonate. Experiments were carried out on emulsion systems having a particle content ranging from 0.1 wt% to 6 wt%. The results show that when the particle content in the system is low (less than 0.3 wt%), the hydrate formation rate is accelerated; when the particle content is high (above 2 wt%), the hydrate formation rate is lowered. This phenomenon was confirmed by calculating the moles consumption of methane gas. Moreover, the particles increase the collision probability of the crystal nucleus in the system, and can be used as a nucleation site of the hydrate crystal nucleus. The promotion or inhibition of the system on hydrate growth has reference value for preventing pipeline blockage.