Experimental study of gas hydrate formation and destabilisation using a novel high-pressure apparatus

The apparatus was used for the study of two different systems. The first system was composed of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water for which the hydrate formation and dissolution has been investigated by injecting water into liquid CO2. The evolution of the system was monitored by means of visual observation in combination with Raman spectroscopy. The second system consists of thermogenic-like gases (i.e. synthetic natural gas) for which the hydrate formation and dissociation have additionally been investigated by monitoring the change of the vapour phase composition. The consequences of the destruction of the hydrate skin formed at the water-gas interface have been studied. Thus, an attempt has been made to study the importance of the interfacial contact layer between the gas phase and the aqueous phase for the hydrate growth process. In this paper, we describe in detail the apparatus, followed by the presentation of the results on both systems investigated.