(310c) The Use of Tetrahydrofuran to Stabilize the Clathrate Hydrates of Helium, Neon and Hydrogen at Low-Pressure

Recently, the clathrate hydrate of hydrogen has been discovered. It turned out that the applied pressure to stabilize the material was extremely high, i.e., at temperatures below ambient the equilibrium pressure of the hydrogen hydrate is as high as 230 MPa. However, application of the gas hydrate promoter tetrahydrofuran, it turned out to be possible to have hydrogen clathrate hydrate stable at pressures below 10 MPa. This study reports that tetrahydrofuran is also able to stabilize the clathrate hydrates of the noble gases helium and neon. Experimental results are reported on the stability conditions for the hydrate phase in a temperature range of approximately 277-283 K, pressures up to 14.5 MPa were applied, and a concentration of THF of about 5-6 mole %.

Reference L.J. Florusse, C.J. Peters, J. Schoonman, K.C. Hester, C.A. Koh, S.F. Dec, K.N. Marsh, E.D. Sloan, Stable low pressure hydrogen clusters stored in a binary clathrate, Science, 306 (2004) 469-471.