Driving force and composition for multicomponent gas hydrate nucleation from supersaturated aqueous solutions

Abstract

The expression for driving force is presented for multicomponent gas hydrate nucleation in an aqueous phase. The derivation includes working equations for predicting the composition of a hydrate nucleus. The results for driving force in multicomponent systems show a significant effect of the composition of the hydrate nucleus. All past work assume a fixed composition based on the three-phase equilibrium point independent of subcooling and supersaturation.