Development of a novel experimental apparatus for hydrate equilibrium measurements

• Developed novel experimental apparatus.
• Measured HLwV and HLwLCO2 equilibria of the CO2 + H2O system.
• Measured HLwV equilibria of the CH4 + H2O system.
• Measured solubilities of CH4 and CO2 in H2O under three-phase equilibria.

A novel experimental apparatus was designed and constructed for measuring the three-phase equilibrium conditions of pure gas and gas mixture hydrates. The experimental apparatus can operate at pressures up to 20 MPa. The different parts of the experimental set-up are discussed and analyzed. Calibration issues are addressed and validation experimental measurements are reported at pressure conditions below 10 MPa for the case of pure gas hydrates. In addition to measuring the three-phase equilibrium pressure and temperature conditions with the current experimental apparatus, liquid phase analysis measurements are reported. In particular, the solubility of the gas in the aqueous phase is measured under three-phase equilibrium conditions. Gases of interest to the current study include CH4, and CO2. Both gases are of significant importance in industrial gas-storage and transportation applications, as well as gas-mixture separation applications.

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