Exploring the Influence of Surfactants on Methane Hydrate Formation Kinetics Beyond Its Thermodynamic Stability Region from a Supersaturated Solution ’Water + Sodium Lauryl Sulfate + Methane’

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of sodium lauryl sulfate (SDS) molecules in a homogeneous and already supersaturated aqueous methane solution on the structure of the hydrogen bond network and the kinetics of methane hydrate growth at moderate temperature and pressure is studied by the molecular dynamics method. From calculation of the number of hydrogen bonds and parameters of the tetragonal and torsion orders in comparison with a water + SDS solution and a pure water + methane solution, it is shown that the hydrate growth rate and its crystallinity grow as the methane concentration in the supersaturated solution decreases. In this case, increase in the SDS concentration in a solution with a higher gas concentration leads to phase separation.