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

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 + C3H3 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. (C) 2016 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.