Estudo do equilíbrio de fases de hidratos de metano e da mistura metano e dióxido de carbono

Abstract

Hydrates are crystalline structures composed by molecules of water or liquid and gas, and the crystal structure that requires stabilization conditions of high pressure and/or low temperatures. The formation and agglomeration of hydrates can cause blockage of transmission lines oil and / or gas, reducing process efficiency, damaging the equipment and compromise the safety of the operating part. In this scenario, in this paper the numerical-experimental study of phase equilibria of hydrates is presented to identify the regions of formation and adjust the operating conditions in the oil industry. To predict hydrate formation conditions of a thermodynamic model based on the ideal solid solution theory by van der Waals and Platteeuw is developed. The model is based on the equality of the chemical potentials of all species in all phases (liquid water, vapor and hydrate). The SoaveRedlich-Kwong equation of state was employed for the phase equilibrium properties of the hydrocarbon fluid phase and the secant method was used to solve the model iteratively. Experimental measurements were performed using pure methane and methane mixture (90 mol%) and carbon dioxide, and the tests were performed on two separate stands, and similar procedures performed based on the isochoric method by monitoring the pressure response of the system with changes in the temperature. The experimental and numerical results were compared with literature data in order to validate the proposed thermodynamic model, the experimental apparatus and procedure adopted. The maximum absolute error between the experimental results and thermodynamic model was 0.57%. Thus, the results showed good agreement between experimental data and numerical modeling.