Synergistic effect of Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and L-tyrosine on kinetic inhibition of CH4 + C2H4 + C3H8 hydrate formation

Production and transportation of natural gas through pipeline is often hampered by formation of gas hydrates, which can be mitigated by using efficient inhibitors. In this work, the effect of L-tyrosine and NaCI on Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as kinetic inhibitor on formation of hydrate from methane/ethane/propane (89.93/7.04/3.03 mol %) gas mixture was studied. The effect of L-tyrosine, NaCI and PVP on the nucleation and growth of hydrates was investigated by measuring the hydrate nucleation time and gas consumption profile. The addition of inhibitors was found to prolong the hydrate nucleation time and decrease the amount of gas consumption. The results showed that the presence of both NaCI and L-tyrosine enhanced the inhibition strength of PVP. Addition of 1.0% (wt) PVP increased the induction time to 45 min compared to pure water system where induction time was only 27 min. Again addition of 0.25% (wt) NaCl, 0.25% (wt) L-tyrosine and 0.5% (wt) PVP to the system increased the hydrate nucleation time further to 65 min and decreased the gas consumption 27% compared to pure water system. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.