Do We Have New Solutions to the Old Problem of Gas Hydrates?

Gas hydrates are crystalline compounds formed as a result of the combination of suitable size gas molecules and water under suitable pressure and temperature conditions. They resemble ice but unlike ice can form at temperatures well above the ice formation temperature. Their formation in oil and gas pipelines could result in serious operational problems and safety concerns. The conventional techniques in avoiding gas hydrate problems are dehydration, insulation, and/or heating or injection of thermodynamic or low-dosage hydrate inhibitors. In this paper, we discuss some new techniques for preventing gas hydrate problems that could improve the reliability of hydrate prevention techniques and/or reduce the associated costs. The new solutions include hydrate safety margin monitoring, early hydrate detection systems, and the latest results and techniques for evaluating low-dosage hydrate inhibitors. The application of thermodynamic modeling to CO2-rich systems will also be presented.