Experimental monitoring of CO2 hydrate slurry crystallization by heat flux rate determination in a jacketed reactor

Abstract

CO2 hydrate slurries are promising phase change materials for secondary refrigeration applications. However, the difficulty of experimentally evaluating the crystallization kinetic of slurries limits their industrial use. Hydrate crystallization kinetics monitoring performs traditionally by a reactor mass balance. However, this method requires assumptions on CO2 liquid phase concentration and the hydration number. This work outlines the development of a specific method to determine kinetics thanks to the direct measure of heat flow through the reactor jacket and its evaluation compared with the mass balance method. The results of each method are then obtained by testing the two kinetic parameters of stirring speed and propeller type. The final hydrate mass fractions obtained with both methods are in good agreement, but the kinetic obtained by the mass balance method is faster than by the heat balance method.