Effect of Divalent Cations and Other Ions on the Tetrahydrofuran Crystal Inhibition of Quaternary Ammonium Salts-Relevance to the Efficiency of Gas Hydrate Quaternary Anti-agglomerants.

Abstract

Gas hydrate anti-agglomerants (AAs) are a class of low-dosage hydrate inhibitor that are used to prevent plugging of gas hydrates in oil and condensate upstream flow lines. Industrial AAs are mostly cationic surfactants which are "hydrate-philic", i.e., they are designed to interact with and modify gas hydrate crystal growth. Tetrahydrofuran (THF) hydrate crystal growth studies have been used for many years to determine useful functional groups to incorporate into AA surfactants. In particular, quaternary ammonium and phosphonium salts with optimized alkyl groups show good THF crystal growth inhibition, which is a key property for AAs. AAs are often screened and tested in model brines containing sodium chloride despite the produced water containing various divalent cations. Recent studies have shown that AAs performed better when tested in brines containing both sodium and calcium ions rather than just sodium ions. Here, we present THF hydrate crystal growth studies on quaternary ammonium and phosphonium salts and other related molecules including guanidinium salts and amine oxides. Tests were carried out with a variety of cations including sodium, calcium, magnesium, and lithium at identical pre-determined subcooling, in order to investigate the effect of the ion size and charge density on the crystal growth inhibition. We also investigate the effect of using the more polarizable iodide ions compared to chloride ions. Our results show that crystal growth inhibition in solutions with calcium ions is somewhat greater than that with sodium ions, in agreement with past studies on the effect of AA performance with mono- and divalent cations. However, the variation does not seem to be primarily related to the charge density and polarizing ability of the cations. This study therefore provides evidence that AAs should be tested in brines containing all the ions present in the produced water and not just sodium chloride brine.