Effect of antifreeze protein on nucleation, growth and memory of gas hydrates

The effect of Type I antifreeze protein (AFP) from winter flounder on the formation of propane hydrate and methane hydrate was studied. We show that the formation of both hydrates is inhibited significantly, with both nucleation and crystal growth being affected. Also, AFP showed the so-far unique ability to eliminate the memory effect in the reformation of gas hydrate. We have proposed a mechanism involving the interference of AFP with heterogeneous nucleation and subsequent growth of the hydrates. It is also shown that a number of samples must be studied in order to obtain meaningful statistics, and that magnetic resonance imaging provides a novel way of studying the nucleation and growth of hydrate in multiple droplets. (c) 2006 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.