Formation of Gas Hydrate using Micro-bubbles : (2) Bench-scale Experiments using Methane

Abstract

The bench-scale experimental facility for gas hydrate formation using methane has been designed in order to confirm extremely high formation rate of the newly developed hydrate formation system which uses micro-bubbles with tubular reactor. A static-mixer is used to generate micro-bubbles, and the reactor is 250m long with internal diameter of 16.1mm. The design flow rate of water is 0.014m^3/min and the maximum gas flow rate is 1.12Nm^3/min. Experimental temperature and pressure are 1∿10℃ and 8 MPa at maximum, respectively. A method to analyze hydrate formation in the tubular reactor based on the conservation equations is also presented.