Enrichment of gas storage in clathrate hydrates by optimizing the molar liquid water-gas ratio

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 12; no. 4; pp. 274 - 282
• Main Authors: Burla, Sai Kiran, Pinnelli, S. R. Prasad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 12-01-2022; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; Chemistry; Energy sources; Gas hydrates; Kinetics; Metal surfaces; Methane; Natural gas; Optimization; Storage capacity; Transportation applications; Water
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/d1ra07585c

Natural gas (NG) is considered a modern source of energy. Gas hydrates are anticipated to be an alternative method for gas storage and transportation applications. The process must be handy, rapid, and proficient for scale-up. In the present study, methane (CH
4
) and carbon dioxide (CO
2
) hydrates are synthesized by varying the guest (gas) to host (water) volume. The experiments are performed in a non-stirred system. The results specify that the maximum storage capacity is achieved when the molar liquid water-gas ratio is about 4.08 and 8.25 for CH
4
and CO
2
hydrates. At the optimal water-gas ratios, the total CH
4
and CO
2
gas uptake capacity is about 14.3 ± 0.4 and 9.1 ± 0.4 liters at standard temperature and pressure (STP) conditions. The gas uptake gradually increases with the solution volume and abruptly falls after a threshold point. The hydrate grows across the reactor's metal surface; when the process fully covers the surface, the growth continues horizontally (increase in thickness). With varying the liquid water-gas ratio (low to high), the formation kinetics (
t
90
) is delayed. The hydrate growth rate gradually decreases and does not significantly influence the hydrate formation temperatures. Optimizing the molar liquid water-gas ratio yields a high gas storage capacity and faster process kinetics.
Methane and carbon dioxide storage in hydrate form.