Experimental study and modeling of methane hydrate formation induction time in the presence of ionic liquids

Gas hydrate formation is considered as unfavorable phenomenon in petroleum industry since it leads to blockage of pipelines. Use of hydrate inhibitors is the most practical method to prevent gas hydrate formation. Two kinds of inhibitors are typically used in the industry: thermodynamic inhibitors and kinetic ones. Thermodynamic inhibitors shift the hydrate equilibrium curve to the lower temperatures and higher pressures. Kinetic inhibitors delay the hydrate nucleation and growth rates. There are some evidences that ionic liquids have dual inhibition effects. In this communication, three ionic liquids including (BMIM-BF4), (BMIM-DCA) and (TEACL) were used. Methane hydrate formation induction time in the presence of the aforementioned ionic liquids was investigated in this work. In addition, a three parameter semi-empirical model on the basis of chemical kinetics theory was used to represent/predict the data. It is shown that the semi-empirical model has a satisfactory accuracy.