Hydrate Formation Using Dowfax Gemini Surfactants

• Main Author: Viloria, Franchette
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: CUNY Academic Works 2012
• Subjects: Hydrate; Surfactant; Dowfax; Chemical Engineering; Engineering; Gemini; Methane hydrate
• Online Access: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/86; https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=cc_etds_theses

"Gas hydrate formation is a stochastic and slow process. However, the use of a small amount of surfactant can speed up the rate of hydrate formation. This work investigates the effect of two Dow surfactants, Dowfax 2A1 and Dowfax C6L, on gas hydrate formation, first by determining the adsorption isotherms via liquid-liquid titration methods, and then investigating the role in methane hydrate formation in a non-stirred batch reactor. Both surfactants have almost similar structure, sharing doubly charged headgroups, but these surfactants express different effects on hydrate formation. 2A1 and C6L both show monolayer formation at around concentration of 1.0 mM; however the isotherm of Dowfax 2A1 shows multi-layer type of adsorption whereas that of Dowfax C6L shows monolayer adsorption only. High pressure experiment results reveal that 2A1 has a faster induction and growth than C6L. Thus, 2AI is a more suitable hydrate promoter than C6L."