Production Engineering and Research - Prediction of Conditions for Hydrate Formation in Natural Gasses (T. P. 1748, Petr. Tech., July 1944)

Charts for predicting the pressure to which natural gases may be expanded without hydrate formation have been prepared for gases of even gravity. Pressure-temperature curves for hydrate formation were established for gases having gravities from 0.6 to 1.0. These curves and the thermal behavior of the gases during free and adiabatic expansion were used to prepare the charts for estimating the permissible expansion of natural gases without hydrate formation. The problem was solved by L. F, Albright, W. T. Boyd, J. J. McKetta, G. Martin, P. Poettman. and A. P. Snyder.-, who are first-year graduate students in the department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Michigan. This paper is essentially a summary of their results. Prediction of Conditions for Hydrate Formation in Natural Gases Each natural gas under a given pressure will form solid hydrates at a corresponding temperature provided sufficient water is present.1-5 The temperature of natural gases below about 5000 lb. per sq. in. decreases when the gases are expanded freely.6,7 This decrease in temperature may cause the expanding gas to enter the region of temperature and pressure at which hydrates will form' The final pressure to which a natural gas may 'be expanded without hydrate formation depends upon the initial temperature and pressure and the gas composition. This paper presents charts that give the final pressures to which gases of gravity 0.6 to 1.0 at given initial temperatures and pressures may be expanded without formation of hydrate. Hydrate-forming Temperatures and Pressures as a Function OF Gas -Gravity Experimental data of pressure versus temperature at which solid hydrate will form, provided sufficient water is present, are available for a series of gases.2,3 A method of predicting the pressure-temperature curve for a given gas composition has been reported.' The solution to this problem requires that these curves relating pressure to temperature be established for gases of given gravities.