New Hydrate Promoter to Enhance the Methane Hydrate Formation Kinetics: Applicable to Natural Gas Storage and Transport

Natural gas (NG) plays a crucial role in a nation's transition to a gas-based economy and decarbonization. Efficient/safe storage and transport of NG is vital for this transition. Solidified natural gas (SNG) technology has emerged as a potential option for NG storage and transport in recent years, wherein sluggish hydrate formation kinetics is one of the major challenges. Therefore, this work investigates 1,2,3-benzotriazole (BTA), a commercially available corrosion inhibitor, as a potential kinetic hydrate promoter (KHP) for SNG technology. The kinetics of methane hydrate formation is evaluated at various BTA concentrations (0.01–0.5 wt %), pressure ranging from 4.0 to 8.0 MPa, and a temperature of ∼274.65 K. Moreover, we investigate the optimal gas-to-liquid ratio for enhanced methane hydrate formation kinetics. BTA significantly promotes the hydrate formation kinetics and methane storage capacity. With the addition of 0.2 wt % BTA in water, a volumetric methane storage capacity of ∼138 v/v (volume of CH4/volume of hydrate) and a gravimetric storage capacity of ∼120 mg/g (mg of CH4/g of water) are achieved in just 30 min of the hydrate formation test. Our results of rapid hydrate formation kinetics would enable the commercial deployment of SNG technology.