Phase equilibria of methane and carbon dioxide clathrate hydrates in the presence of (methanol + MgCl2) and (ethylene glycol + MgCl2) aqueous solutions

•Hydrate dissociation conditions for CH4 and CO2 in the presence of pure water/inhibitor aqueous solution are reported.•The inhibitors include: methanol + MgCl2 and ethylene glycol + MgCl2.•An isochoric pressure-search method was used in all the experimental data measurements.•The aqueous solutions shift the equilibrium data to high pressure/low temperature.•The aqueous solutions containing methanol has more inhibition effect than ethylene glycol.

In this work, the experimental data for the equilibrium conditions of methane and carbon dioxide clathrate hydrates in the presence of (0.1 mass fraction methanol + 0.03, 0.1 mass fraction MgCl2) and (0.1, 0.2 mass fraction ethylene glycol + 0.1 mass fraction MgCl2) aqueous solutions at different temperature and pressure range 263.74 to 280.54 K and 0.98 to 8.02 MPa, respectively and for various concentrations of inhibitors are reported, which is not available in open literature. The equilibrium pressure–temperature curves were generated using an isochoric pressure-search method. The experimental results of methane and carbon dioxide clathrate hydrates in the presence of pure water and the above mentioned aqueous inhibitor solutions are compared with some selected experimental data from the literature in the presence of pure water, single glycol, alcohol or salt aqueous solutions to validate the experimental result and to show the inhibition effects of the aqueous solutions used in this work. The results show that the phase equilibrium of the quaternary system (H2O + ethylene glycol/methanol + CH4/CO2 + MgCl2) is shifted to higher pressures/lower temperatures compared to the phase equilibrium of pure CH4/CO2 due to the inhibition effect. Also, it has been observed that the quaternary system containing methanol has a more inhibition effect than the quaternary system containing ethylene glycol at the same mass fraction of the inhibitor in the aqueous solution.