Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data, Vol.63, No.5, 1724-1732, 2018
Experimental Study and Thermodynamic Modeling of Methane Hydrate Dissociation Conditions in the Simultaneous Presence of BMIM-BF4 and Ethanol in Aqueous Solution
Experimental and thermodynamic results for methane hydrate dissociation conditions in the simultaneous presence of ethanol and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMIM-BF4) ionic liquid (IL) in aqueous solution are presented. Three different aqueous et 5 solutions including solution 1 (0.0142 mole fraction of ethanol, 0.0060 mole fraction of BMIM-BF4), solution 2 (0.0348 mole fraction of ethanol, 0.0059 mole fraction of BMIM-BF4) and solution 3 (0.0549 mole fraction of ethanol, 0.0058 mole fraction of BMIM-BF4) were used. An isochoric pressure-search method was used to perform the measurements. The experimental pressure and temperature ranges are (3.18 to 8.32) MPa and (273.6 to 283.3) K, respectively. The thermodynamic inhibition effects of these solutions on methane hydrate dissociation were observed and solution 3 leads to the strongest inhibition effect. The average hydrate dissociation temperature reduction for methane hydrate in the presence of solutions 1, 2, and 3 are approximately 1.0, 2.2, and 3.7 K, respectively, in comparison with the pure water case. Furthermore, to predict methane hydrate dissociation conditions, a van der Waals-Platteeuw (vdW-P) type model was used. The activity of water in the liquid/aqueous phase is computed using the NRTL activity coefficient model and the fugacity of the gas phase is accounted using the Peng-Robinson equation of state (PR EoS). Results indicate that there is a good agreement between the experimental and modeled data.