(383d) Use of Eco-Friendly Amine Based Hydrate Inhibitors for Hydrate Mitigation and Offshore Flow Assurance

Gas hydrate is ice-like crystalline compounds that are formed under high pressure and low-temperature conditions in the subsea lines causing an unwanted blockages and safety threat to close by operators. Annually, the industry spends about 1 billion US $ on the prevention of gas hydrates and they are considered to be a major flow assurance concern for the oil and gas sector. In order to prevent the hydrate formation the industry heavily relies on the use of thermodynamic hydrate inhibitors such as methanol and mono-ethylene glycol (MEG). These inhibitors prevent hydrate formation by shifting hydrate vapor-liquid equilibrium to lower temperature values. However, the major issue with the use of these inhibitors is that they are required in large dosage (> 60 wt%), high cost, high toxicity, flammability and environmental constraints associated with their disposal. So the aim of this work is to present a new class of eco-friendly, low dosage and cost effective dual functional inhibitors to prevent hydrate formation in offshore subsea lines.

A series of experiments were conducted under different pressure conditions (40-100 bars) using rocking cell assembly (RC-5) and pure methane gas. The RC-5 mimics a subsea line and can be operated up to 200 bars with a temperature range of -10 ^o C to 60 ^o C. The inhibition performance of selected amine based eco-friendly hydrate inhibitors with and without synergists was evaluated at different dosages and pressure conditions. It was observed that the selected eco-friendly inhibitors can function as thermodynamic and kinetic inhibitors both simultaneously. The addition of synergist enhances their inhibition performance and help in reducing their required dosage. This work is beneficial for industry as it may help to reduce their operating cost, reduce their environmental foot print and assure smooth energy transfer.

About Authors:

Prof. Majeda Khraisheh and Dr. M Fahed Qureshi are active researchers in the area of flow assurance. Their work focuses primarily on applied research in the area gas hydrates considering the offshore industrial needs and addressing the environmental constraints associated with commercial hydrate inhibitors. They can be reached at m.khraisheh@qu.edu.qa and fahed.qureshi@yahoo.com .