Journal
GREEN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Volume 3, Issue 1, Pages 34-43Publisher
KEAI PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.gce.2021.07.010
Keywords
Hydrate; Molecular dynamics; Hydrate inhibition; Kinetic hydrate inhibitors
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [21776301, U20B6005]
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This study investigated the inhibition effect of copolymers on hydrate growth using a combined molecular dynamics simulation and experimental approach. The reliability of the simulation was confirmed by experimental results. It was found that introducing butyl ester group into PVP improved the inhibition effect, and increasing the interaction between KHIs and methane enhanced the inhibitory effect.
The development of environmental friendly low dose hydrate inhibitors like kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs) is of great significance for the flow assurance in oil & gas production and transportation. In this work, a combined molecular dynamic simulation and experimental verification approach was adopted to increase the efficiency of KHIs development. The inhibition effect of a series of copolymers (N-vinylpyrrolidone and N-acrylate) on hydrate growth was studied by using both molecular dynamics simulation and experimental approaches. The simulation results demonstrated that introduction of hydrophobic ester and butyl group in PVP is beneficial for the inhibition. The length of the alkyl chain of ester group played an important role in improving inhibition performance. PVP-A, the one being introduced butyl ester group into PVP gets the best inhibition effect. In addition, inhibitors can restrict methane bubbles to re-dissolve into the liquid phase, thereby inhibiting the growth of methane hydrate. Increasing the interaction between KHIs and methane can also improve the inhibitory effect of KHIs. The experimental results confirm the reliability of the molecular dynamics simulation.
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