Natural self-assembled supramolecules as green inhibitors against methane hydrate formation

Abstract

Environmentally friendly hydrate inhibitors are the most promising method to solve the environmental pollution of inhibitors, among which Safranine O (SO) with antifreeze protein properties shows excellent application prospects. SO will self-assemble into macromolecules under hydrogen bonding and electrostatic action in an aqueous solution. The assembled macromolecules' hydrophobic and hydrophilic functional groups are regularly arranged with the properties of an antifreeze protein. In the crystal growth inhibition (CGI) test, the supercooling degree of the complete inhibition region (CIR) of 1.0 wt% SO solution for SI hydrate was significantly higher than that of 1.0 wt% PVP solution. Further, the acidic environment did not affect the inhibitory effect of SO on hydrate. The complete inhibition range of 1.0 wt% SO solution on SI hydrate at pH 1.4 and 7.1 was 7.41 °C and 8.35 °C, respectively. These results suggest that SO-based KHIs may provide new ideas for developing highly efficient acid-resistant hydrate inhibitors.