Direction Controlled Methane Hydrate Growth

Abstract

Gas hydrate growth pattern is of great importance in hydrate-based gas storage and transportation. In this work, direction controlled methane hydrate growth in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was achieved through hydrophobic modification to the hydrate growth surface and design to the existing manner of the reaction solution in the reactor. Upward methane hydrate growth was obtained when the hydrate formation took place on hydrophilic surface, while when the hydrate growth surface was hydrophobically modified, the upward hydrate growth was retarded. Downward hydrate growth was accomplished by fixing the reaction solution in the middle part of the reactor, because both gravity and capillary effect promoted the downward hydrate growth. However, when the lower part of the reactor was hydrophobically modified, the downward hydrate growth was restrained and upward hydrate growth was achieved.