RAPID: Gas Hydrate Formation and Inhibition at the Conditions Encountered in the Gulf of Mexico Oil Leak from the Deepwater Horizon Well

Colorado School Of Mines, Golden CO

Investigators

Abstract

1042752 Sum The focus of this proposed project is to obtain experimental data needed in strategies currently contemplated to prevent gas hydrate formation at the oil/gas leaking from the Deepwater Horizon well system, as well as other future deepwater oil developments. Intellectual Merit: The effect of thermodynamic inhibitors being considered, such as methanol and monoethylene glycol on hydrate formation conditions and rates in the presence of water-in-oil emulsion + brine systems will be measured using a high pressure differential calorimeter and a stirred high pressure autoclave cell. These measurements will provide new and critical information to establishing the effectiveness of these widely used control strategies for hydrate formation in deepwater oil developments. The CSM Hydrate Center is a global leader in hydrate flow assurance, with extensive expertise in experiments and modeling of hydrate formation applied to the oil industry. The proposed project will be accelerated by the expertise at CSM in hydrate experiments. The first set of experiments will measure the phase equilibria of methane hydrates from brine solution with and without inhibitor (methanol and monoethylene glycol). These measurements will be performed in a high-pressure micro-differential scanning calorimeter (HiP-DSC). This instrument allows measurements of phase changes for very small samples (about 20 mg) at low temperature and high-pressure conditions as expected in the Deepwater Horizon well systems. For these experiments, the pressure will be set to 2500-3000 psi and the temperature ramped from +40 °C to -40 °C to form hydrates and then from -40°C to +40 °C to dissociate the hydrate and obtain the dissociation temperature of the hydrate and the extent of conversion of the aqueous brine solution to hydrate crystals. The onset of the dissociation temperature can be measured for the different samples at a number of inhibitor concentrations. Broader Impact: The effect of thermodynamic inhibitors, such as methanol and monoethylene glycol on hydrate formation conditions and rates in the presence of water-in-oil emulsion + brine systems have not been investigated previously. Yet, this information is critical to establishing the effectiveness of these widely used control strategies for hydrate formation and remediation.