Nucleation rates of carbon dioxide hydrate

Nucleation rates of carbon dioxide hydrate were extracted via the measurement of induction time distributions in a set of stirred, stainless steel, high-pressure cells. These nucleation rates ranged from (1.71 to 20.6) x 10(-4) s(-1) at subcoolings between (1.2 and 4.2) K, higher than those measured under the same conditions for methane or structure II hydrates. Formation probability was well-described by the mononuclear mechanism from Classical Nucleation Theory. Analysis under this framework reveals that the comparatively faster nucleation rates observed for CO2 hydrates can be attributed to lower nucleation work rather than guest solubility in the liquid aqueous phase.

Automated summary

Nucleation rates of carbon dioxide hydrate were measured and found to be higher than those of methane or structure II hydrates under the same conditions. The mononuclear mechanism was found to accurately describe the formation probability of CO2 hydrates.