Study on the Kinetics of Methane Hydrate Formation under the Synergistic Effect of Inorganic Biomaterials and Surfactant Based on Hydrophobic Effect

Abstract

The use of the hydrate technique for transporting and storing natural gas is auspicious. Still, the current constraint to the development of this technique is its sluggish hydrate formation rate. Nanoparticles are widely used in hydrate fields owing to the advantage of having an enormous specific surface area; inorganic biomaterials have received much attention due to their good environmental friendliness and biocompatibility. Therefore, in this work, 60 nm of inorganic biomaterials (silica (SiO2), calcium carbonate (CaCO3), and hydroxyapatite (Hap)) of different concentrations (0.08, 0.15, 0.22, and 0.3 wt %) in 0.05 wt % sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solution were selected at 273.15 K and 6 MPa to analyze their effect on methane hydrates and to vary the particle size of nanofluidic particles at the optimum concentration. The findings demonstrated that 60 nm, 0.22 wt % CaCO3 particles with a gas storage density of 133.9 (V/V) had the greatest influence on hydrate promotion; the wettability of the nanoparticles had a great effect on hydrates, and in this study, hydrophobic particles were better than hydrophilic particles in promoting hydrates. By demonstrating the impact of hydroxyapatite on methane hydrates for the first time, this study demonstrates the innovative nature of this work.