Preventing the Formation and Agglomeration of Clathrate Hydrates
Open Access
Author:
Love, Gary
Graduate Program:
Chemistry
Degree:
Master of Science
Document Type:
Master Thesis
Date of Defense:
May 11, 2021
Committee Members:
Philip Bevilacqua, Program Head/Chair Lauren Dell Zarzar, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Ayusman Sen, Committee Member Miriam Arak Freedman, Committee Member Ralph H Colby, Committee Member
Keywords:
Clathrates Hydrates Pipeline Emulsion Particle
Abstract:
Clathrate hydrates have been a continual issue in deep-water pipelines. Since oil remains the most used source of energy, it is important to ensure the pipelines work effectively. There are many known hydrate inhibitors in existence, but each have their own drawbacks or limitations. Our aim is to combine two hydrate inhibitors in order to create an inhibitor with the properties of both that would be able to mitigate the other inhibitors weaknesses. Solid particles were combined with a known hydrate inhibitor in order to analyze the effectiveness of the combination. It was found through optical microscopy that the hydrate formation was random for most systems despite the change in variables. There was no trend found to describe the effectiveness of the new inhibitor, but there was a noticeable impedance on hydrate formation using the inhibitor. More work and studies will need to be done before complete conclusions can be made on the overall effectiveness of the inhibitor, however early results show a promising future for inhibitors like these.
