Kinetic promotion of gas hydrate formations using dispersions
Yu Wei, Nobuo Maeda
Abstract
CO 2 hydrate has promising applications like carbon capture and storage (CCS). However, the slow formation kinetics hinders these large-scale applications. Dry water, a water-in-gas dispersion stabilized by a Pickering agent (usually partially hydrophobized silica nanoparticles) has been used to enhance CO 2 hydrate formation kinetics by massively increasing the water – gas interfacial area for a given volume of water. We investigated CO 2 hydrate nucleation and crystal growth kinetics in dry water in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and seven water-insoluble nucleation promoters. Doping a small amount of nucleation promoters did not ruin the stability of dry water or weaken the promoting effect of dry water on CO 2 hydrate nucleation kinetics. Dispersing water in CO 2 as dry water promoted hydrate nucleation kinetics and doping of the additives promoted hydrate crystal growth kinetics. This synergistic effect could be utilized to store more CO 2 in a hydrate form at a faster rate.