Inhibition of natural gas hydrates in the presence of liquid hydrocarbons forming structure H.

The effects of LMGS (large molecule guest substance) amount on the thermodynamics of natural gas hydrates, as well as structural characteristics of mixed hydrates of LMGS and natural gas, have been studied. The addition of 1.7 wt % neohexane (NH) to water induced inhibition of natural gas hydrates, and this inhibition effect increased with increased addition of NH up to 7.8 wt %. However, the hydrate equilibrium condition changed slightly when the concentration of NH further increased from 7.8 to 14.5 wt %. Investigations on structural characteristics were carried out by analyzing (13)C NMR spectra of mixed hydrates formed from the mixture of natural gas and NH. They indicate that two hydrate structures of II and H coexist simultaneously, and the ratio of structure H to II decreased from 0.97 to 0.43 when the NH concentration decreased from 14.5 to 7.8 wt %. In addition, it was confirmed that ethane, propane, and iso-butane gas molecules do not participate in the formation of structure H and only enclathrated in large cages of structure II. These results indicate the existence of multiple hydrate structures, which must be considered in many industrial applications when mixed hydrates are formed from multicomponent gas mixtures and liquid hydrocarbons.