Promoting effect of Al2O3/ZnO-based nanofluids stabilized by SDS surfactant on CH4+C2H6+C3H8 hydrate formation

•Addition of Al2O3 and ZnO nanoparticle decreases the induction time of hydrate formation.•The amount of gas consumed in presence of both the nanoparticle increases by almost 121% compared with that pure water system.•The rate of gas consumption and water to hydrate conversion also increases in presence of Al2O3 and ZnO nanoparticle.•Both the nanoparticle (Al2O3 and ZnO) increases the initial apparent rate constant.

The transportation and storage of gas in a safe, efficient and cost-effective manner is always a challenge. Gas hydrate has been considered as a good alternative for storage and transportation media of natural gas. But the main disadvantage of this method is the slow rate of hydrate formation. Therefore, for large-scale industrial application purposes, the present investigation focuses on increasing the rate of hydrate formation and amount of gas consumed by adding aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticle to water. Three different concentrations (0.1, 0.4 and 0.8% (wt)) of nanoparticles in aqueous solution have been studied to know their effect on the kinetics of CH4 + C2H6 + C3H8 hydrate formation. To stabilize the prepared solution, 0.03% (wt) SDS has been added to the aqueous solution. The results show that addition of both the nanoparticles increases the gas consumption rate and amount of gas consumed. The amount of gas consumed in presence of both the nanoparticle increases by almost 121% compared with that of pure water system. The storage capacity also increases with the addition of both nanoparticles. Induction time and hydrate growth rate have also been discussed.

Graphical abstractFigure shows the amount of gas consumed during hydrate formation in pure water, water + SDS and water + SDS + nanofluid system. Addition of 0.03%(wt) SDS to water increases the gas consumption by almost 1.48 times with respect to pure water system. It is also noticed that the addition of 0.1%(wt) Al2O3 nanoparticle to the water + 0.03%(wt) SDS system further increases the gas consumption upto 2.02 times with respect to pure water. While addition of 0.1%(wt) ZnO nanoparticle to the water + 0.03%(wt) SDS system increases the gas consumption upto 2.11 times with respect to pure water.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide