A Multiscale Approach for Gas Hydrates Considering Structure, Agglomeration, and Transportability under Multiphase Flow Conditions: I. Phenomenological Model

A new topological model on how gas hydrates form, grow and agglomerate for oil and water continuous flow, with and without surfactant additives is presented. A multiscale approach is used to explain how the porous structure of gas hydrates and the affinity between the phases affect the particle morphology and their agglomeration. We propose that gas consumption due to hydrate growth happens mostly in the water trapped inside the capillaries of the hydrate structure near the outer surface of the particles. This approach is herein referred as the ‘sponge approach’ and is treated as a surface problem, instead of the volume problem often treated in literature (the ‘shell approach’). Affinity between phases (which in a macro point-of-view is interpreted as a wetted angle giving rise to capillarity forces and that can be changed by the use of surfactant additives) describe preferential entrapment of oil or water inside the hydrate sponge structure. Yet by splitting agglomeration into smaller processes, and depe...