Abstract
There is significant interest in gas hydrates because of its promising characteristics, such as the self-preservation effect; the capacity to store gas in solid state; fluidity in slurries; spontaneous dissociation at suitable conditions; and large enthalpy change in phase transition. Many industrial applications using gas hydrates have been tried with some success, although they still have some critical problems associated with hydrate formation, including slow formation rate, unreacted interstitial water as a large percentage of the hydrate mass, and the overall economics of process scale-up. A new and more efficient hydrate production method needs to be developed in order to overcome these problems. In addition, a better understanding of hydrate formation kinetics is also required. This paper discussed an experiment that used gas hydrates in porous media as a gas storage method. It used silica gels which have large internal volumes that enable them to bear water molecules inside, which can then be used for hydrate formation. In order to identify the formation behaviors of the guest molecules in porous media, the three-phase hydrate-water-rich liquid-vapor (HLV) equilibria of methane (CH{sub 4}), CO{sub 2} and natural gas hydrates in porous silica gels were measured. The paper also presented an investigation of the formation kinetics of CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} hydrates in silica gel pores. The paper described the experiment including a schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus. It was concluded that hydrate formation in the silica gel pores indicated significantly faster rates, significantly reduced induction times, increased gas consumption and conversion of water to hydrate as compared to hydrate formation in bulk free water or fine ice powder. 11 refs., 2 tabs., 6 figs.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call