Investigation on the kinetics of carbon dioxide hydrate formation using flow loop testing

As a potential replacement for CH4 hydrates in the petroleum industry and as an environment-friendly secondary refrigerant in the chemical industry, CO2 hydrates are proven for several industrial applications. Most of the studies on CO2 hydrates are mainly conducted in bench top facilities with very limited research work in the flow loop. A newly built high-pressure flow loop was used to investigate the effect of four parameters (initial pressure, temperature, flow rate, and liquid loading) on CO2 hydrate formation. The process of hydrate formation and its morphological evolution in the flow loop were observed visually and analyzed. The experimental results revealed that the gas consumption increased as the initial pressure increased; however, it decreased with the increase of the temperature, flow rate, and liquid loading. The effect of the induction time on CO2 hydrate formation was also analyzed in detail.