Synergistic effect of combination of surfactant and oxide powder on enhancement of gas hydrates nucleation

In the present work we studied the induction periods of hydrate formation of natural gas in pure water, aqueous solutions of surfactants, and in the presence of surfactant together with aluminum oxide nanopowder, the activity of which as hydrate formation inducer was studied previously. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) or neonol AF-9-12 were used as the surfactants. It was demonstrated that the addition of either surfactants or aluminum oxide powder under our experimental conditions causes a decrease in the induction period of hydrate formation from similar to 105 min for pure water to 30-35 min for water with additives. In the case of the simultaneous presence of surfactants and aluminum oxide powder in the system, induction period decreased to similar to 20 min. So, the synergistic effect of the combination of surfactant and oxide powder on gas hydrate nucleation was demonstrated. Possible reasons of this effect have been discussed. (C) 2017 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.