Thermodynamics of methane, propane, and carbon dioxide hydrates in porous glass

Abstract

Abstract Equilibrium pressure for the dissociation of methane, propane, or carbon dioxide hydrates confined in porous glass pores of nominal 15 nm radii were measured over a wide temperature range. A previously presented model is used to determine the pore radius involved at each temperature. Based on these results, pore volume distributions were reconstructed and compared with distributions obtained from nitrogen desorption isotherms. The analysis of the reported data indicate that for all three hydrates, nearly all of the sorbed water was converted to hydrate, but the amount of water taken up by the porous glass was less than that expected from nitrogen desorption studies. When propane was used to form hydrate, the pores not occupied by hydrate were involved in propane vapor–liquid equilibria. © 2004 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 50:1589–1598, 2004