Experimental study on the effect of PVP, NaCl and EG on the methane hydrates formation and dissociation kinetics

Abstract

The problem of hydrate plug, low efficiency of hydrate dissociation and short production time in hydrate exploitation processes have significantly hindered the commercial viability of gas hydrate extraction. This study investigated the inhibitory effects of ethylene glycol (EG), EG + polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and EG + PVP + sodium chloride (NaCl) on methane hydrate formation through experiment. The hydrate inhibitory performance is evaluated by using differential of pressure curve, the amount of hydrate, and pressure drop values, and the effects of different temperatures, pressures, inhibitors, and injection time on hydrate dissociation are further studied. The experiment results indicate that the rank of inhibitors combination in terms of effectiveness is 5%EG + 0.5 wt%PVP + 3 wt%Nacl > 10%EG + 1 wt%PVP > 30% EG. At low-temperature conditions, 30% EG exhibits good inhibition of hydrate synthesis but poor dissociation efficiency. As temperature increases, the hydrates dissociation rate with 30% EG also increases. For the combination inhibitor system of EG, PVP, and NaCl, PVP will reduce the dissociation efficiency of hydrates, while EG and Nacl will improve the hydrate dissociation performance. For low production pressure, it is found that 10% EG + 10% NaCl have a good promotion effect on hydrate dissociation, whereas under high production pressure, 20% EG + 10% NaCl is more effective. Furthermore, injecting the inhibitors earlier enhances the dissociation of hydrates more effectively.