Paper Number
PO78 

Session
Poster Session

Title
Kinetics of cyclopentane hydrate formation analysis through interfacial rheology

Presentation Date and Time
October 14, 2015 (Wednesday) 6:05

Track / Room
Poster Session / Atrium/Harborview

Authors (Click on name to view author profile)

1. Leopercio, Bruna C. (PUC-Rio, Mechanical Engineering)
2. de Souza Mendes, Paulo R. (Pontifícia Universidade Católica-RJ, Mechanical Engineering)
3. Fuller, Gerald G. (Stanford University, Department of Chemical Engineering)

Author and Affiliation Lines (in printed abstract book)
Bruna C. Leopercio¹, Paulo R. de Souza Mendes¹, and Gerald G. Fuller^2
1Mechanical Engineering, Pontifícia Universidade Católica-RJ, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22453-900, Brazil; ²Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Speaker / Presenter 
Leopercio, Bruna C.

Text of Abstract
Hydrates are crystalline, ice-like structures that arise when water is brought into contact with lower molecular weight hydrocarbons on ideal conditions of pressure and temperature. These clathrate-class crystals are detrimental to the production and transportation of oils and gas since they solidify to form sludge networks that can clog piping systems. Thus, hydrates represent a major engineering problem in flow assurance. Motivated by the knowledge that the formation of hydrates is an interfacial phenomenon, this paper innovates by describing the use of interfacial shear rheology as a means of following the kinetics of hydrate formation. A new brass reservoir was developed so it could be accomplished. It is used together with a du Nouy ring as a means of dynamically probing the interface at small strains. Cyclopentane and water are used to form hydrates. The protocol consists on: first tracking the freezing of the surface of the air/water interface in the absence of a hydrocarbon. Once that occurs, cyclopentane is introduced on top of the water and the temperature is then raised above the freezing point of water. Different heat rates are evaluated. The interfacial shear moduli are then tracked as a function of time to reveal the growth of hydrates at the water/cyclopentane interface.