High-throughput sapphire reaction system: A new experimental apparatus to evaluate hydrate kinetic inhibitors with high efficiency

Abstract

Kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs) are one of the most promising methods to overcome the hydrate blockage issues in the oil and gas production and transportation pipelines, but the development and screening of KHIs is generally inefficient by the traditional high-pressure experimental equipment. This work proposed a new high-throughput sapphire reaction system that can efficiently evaluate the inhibition effects of KHIs by characterizing hydrate nucleation under desired conditions. The crucial experimental process parameters were initially optimized including the appropriate cooling and gas loading method, sample filling ratio and the number of repetitions. The inhibition effects of four commercial KHIs (Inhibex 501, Luvicap EG, VC 713 and PVP) were investigated by measuring the onset time for hydrate formation, which were found to be sensitive with the varying concentration and subcooling degree. The ranking order of the inhibition capacity for these KHIs was consistent with that obtained from the traditional high-pressure stirred reaction system and also with the previous researches, indicating the high reliability for this new experimental equipment. Overall results proposed a potential step-by-step KHI screening procedure by the combined application of the new high-throughput sapphire reaction system, traditional stirred reaction system and flow loop, where the high-throughput sapphire reaction system would play a significant role in promoting the efficiency.