Insight into Hydrate Film Growth: Unusual Growth of Methane Hydrate Film at the Interface of Methane and the Aqueous Solution of Malonic Acid

Abstract

In this paper, we argue there is a new way of growing hydrate film other than two currently known ones, namely, a hydrate shell on the water surface without a surfactant and various hydrate dendrimers in the presence of surfactants. A previously unknown growth form of hydrate film occurs at the boundary between an aqueous solution of malonic acid and methane gas. These are gas-filled rounded bodies (like bubbles) of irregular shape which intergrow into the bulk aqueous phase. A possible phenomenological mechanism of the growth of these bodies is discussed. It is assumed such phenomena may take place in real systems during the formation of gas hydrates in water-in-oil dispersions.