Dissertations and Theses

Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Chemical Engineering

Keywords

Hydrate, Calorimeby, Optical Microscopy

Abstract

A key factor in hydrate risk management for an oil-governing system is the stability of the emulsified water with gas hydrate formation. The kinetics of formation of cyclopentane hydrates is investigated in a water-in-oil emulsion using differential scanning calorimetry with the effect of surfactant Span 80. In a classical DSC experiment, an emulsion sample is subjected to a regular cooling and heating cycle between temperatures that include freezing and melting of the dispersed droplets. New phase equilibrium data of (cyclopentane hydrate + water 60:40) emulsions, in the concentration range from 0.1 to 2% of Span 80, is determined at atmospheric pressure (101.325 kPa). Requirements for thermodynamic validity of the equilibrium temperatures measured by this technique are investigated and discussed in details. Also emulsion droplet size measurements are conducted using optical microscope. The thermal behavior of hydrate emulsions is coupled with droplet size measurement to understand effect of surface active agent (Span 80) on hydrate growth. These results confirm the interesting perspectives of application of this technique in the field of gas hydrate.

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