NATURAL-GAS HYDRATE PHASE-EQUILIBRIA AND KINETICS - UNDERSTANDING THE STATE-OF-THE-ART

An overview is given of gas hydrate phase equilibria and kinetics. It is suggested that with only a few exceptions hydrate phase equilibrium conditions may be predicted with acceptable accuracy for industrial purpose via the current state-of-the-art. Hydrate research is at a milestone, going beyond equilibrium experiments to time-dependent measurements, such as in the kinetic arena, where there is a severe paucity of data. To illustrate the concepts, two qualitative microscopic models are presented: 1) the hydrate guest: cavity size ratio and 2) the dissolution of apolar molecules in liquid water. Hypotheses for macroscopic phase equilibria and kinetic nucleation phenomena are given, based upon the two models. -Author