Assessing hydrate formation as a separation process for mixtures of close-boiling point compounds: A modelling study

This study was aimed at developing a simple modelling tool for assessing gas hydrate formation as a means to separate gas mixtures. In order to assess the feasibility of this technology for separation, phase equilibrium data obtained via experimental and modelling studies are required for the design and optimisation of processes based on gas hydrate formation. Three selected gas mixtures (ethane + ethene, ethyne + propene, and ethyne + propane) under hydrate formation conditions were examined. This was done on the basis of pressure-composition plots obtained with the developed multi-phase-multi-component model. The procedure, based on the equality of fugacity and material balances, is presented for predicting compositions in coexisting phases for multi-component systems under hydrate stability conditions. The multi-phase-multi-component model is simple and has been successfully validated against independent data, as well as experimental data obtained by our group.