Investigating the dynamics of gas hydrates in a gas dominant flow loop

Abstract

Offshore pipelines transporting hydrocarbon fluids have to be operated with great care to avoid problems related to flow assurance. Of these possible problems, gas hydrate is dreaded as it poses the greatest risk of plugging offshore pipelines and other production systems. As the search for oil and natural gas goes into deeper and colder offshore fields, the strategies for gas hydrate mitigation are evolving to the management of hydrate risks rather than costly complete prevention. CSIRO has been developing technologies that will facilitate the production of Australian deepwater gas reserves. One of its research programs is a recently commissioned investigation into the dynamic behaviour of gas hydrates in gas pipelines using a pilot-scale 1 inch and 40 m long flow loop. This work will provide experimental results conducted in the flow loop, designed to investigate the hydrate formation characteristics in steady state and transient flow. For a given hydrodynamic condition in steady state flow, the formation and subsequent agglomeration and deposition of hydrate particles appear to occur more severely as the subcooling condition is increasing. Transient flow during a shut-in and restart operation represents a more complex scenario for hydrate formation. Although hydrates develop as a thin layer on the surface of water during the shut-in period, most of the water is quickly converted to hydrate upon restart, forming hydrate laden slurry that is transported through the pipeline by the gas flow. These results could provide valuable insights into the present operation of offshore gas pipelines.