Performance of mixture of ethylene glycol and glycine in inhibiting methane hydrate formation

Abstract

This study investigates synergistic hydrate inhibition performance of conventional thermodynamic hydrate inhibitors (THIs) combined with amino acids. For this purpose, hydrate-liquid-vapor equilibrium (HLVE) data for methane were measured in the presence of mixed ethylene glycol and glycine using 1:1 mixtures at concentrations of 1 wt% (0.5 wt% ethylene glycol +0.5 wt% glycine), 5 wt% (2.5 wt% ethylene glycol +2.5 wt% glycine), 10 wt% (5 wt% ethylene glycol +5 wt% glycine), 20 wt% (10 wt% ethylene glycol +10 wt% glycine), and 30 wt% (15 wt% ethylene glycol +15 wt% glycine) by the isochoric pressure search method. Thermodynamic inhibition efficiency has been investigated by observing the shifts in the hydrate equilibrium curves and trends of the calculated hydrate suppression temperatures at various concentrations and pressures. The results were also obtained for ethylene glycol, glycine and ionic liquids for comparison. An improving inhibition performance by mixing ethylene glycol and glycine was observed, indicating the potential of amino acids as inhibition synergists in hydrate exploitation, oil/gas transportation and flow assurance. Molar hydrate dissociation enthalpies were calculated by using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation and showed that the interaction of ethylene glycol and glycine has no impact on the hydrate structure.