INVESTIGATION OF IONIC LIQUIDS AS TERMODYNAMIC AND KINETIC METHANE HYDRATE INHIBITORS

The formation of gas hydrates in gas; production and transmission pipelines leads
to severe safety problems and huge economic loss, which has been the subject of
long-standing problems. As exploration and production moves to deeper seas,
temperature and pressure conditions in the field favors hydrate formation. In this
dissertation, the performance of nine ionic liquids (ILs) was investigated as
thermodynamic and kinetic gas hydrate inhibitors. The hydrate dissociation
temperature and induction time were determined for methane gas hydrates using a
high pressure micro deferential scanning calorimeter. All the ionic liquids weretested
at a concentration 10 wt% for thermodynamic study. Two best screened ionic liquids
as thermodynamic inhibitors were further investigated at various concentrations and
their performance was compared with commercially available inhibitors.