Insights into induction time and agglomeration of methane hydrate formation in diesel oil dominated dispersed systems

Induction time and agglomeration of methane hydrate formation in dispersed systems play an important role in exploitation of natural gas hydrate, prevention of gas hydrate plug, and application of hydrate-based technologies. In this work, an autoclave with particle video microscope (PVM) probe was used to detect induction time of methane hydrate formation as a function of the water cut, dosage of sorbitan monolaurate (Span 20), and subcooling. Forty-one experiments and thirty-six experiments of induction time have been conducted for methane hydrate formation at constant pressure and at nonconstant pressure, respectively. The results showed subcooling was the major factor that affects induction time during methane hydrate formation process. Subcooling of 4 K can be seen as an inflection point because the average methane hydrate formation time was less than 200 min when the subcooling was greater than 4 K, while methane hydrate formation time exhibited more stochastic when the subcooling was less than 4 K. The results also suggested that there exists a transformation range of subcooling (TRS) during methane hydrate formation process. The agglomerated mechanism of methane gas hydrate may be changed when the subcooling is greater than TRS, and subcooling of 4 K is included in the TRS.