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UW Technologies Available for Licensing

Technology Disclosure: 08-062 Dual Function Gas Hydrate Inhibitors

It is well known that the formation of clathrate hydrates in oil and gas industries often clog deep sea pipelines, which results in severe threats toward the operation safety, slows deep sea drilling and exploration, and add to the expense of the given project. Currently, there are only two methods by which to inhibit such formations: thermodynamic and kinetic inhibitors. Thermodynamic inhibitors, such as methanol, ethylene glycol, and sodium chloride, shift the equilibrium hydrate dissociation/stability curve (also known as the hydrate-aqueous liquid-vapor equilibrium curve) to a lower temperature, thus avoiding the hydration formation altogether. However, since exploration and production moves to deeper seas, temperature and pressure conditions in the filed become in favor of hydrate formation, i.e., the temperature is colder and the pressure is higher, and the addition of this type of inhibitor would be expensive and environmentally prohibitive the inhibitor concentration required to prevent hydrate formation becomes very high. Because of this, the use of thermodynamic inhibitors is often very expensive and may be environmentally harmful. Kinetic inhibitors, such as Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Poly-N-vinylcaprolactam (PVCap), work by slowing the nucleation and growth rates of the hydrate formation, thus slowing the hydrate formation in the pipelines. In deep sea exploration, these inhibitors slow the hydrate formation for a time period longer than the residence time of the gas in hydrate-prone section of pipeline. The existing kinetic inhibitors, however, are still not believed to give an economic solution especially at high pressure and large degree of supercooling. Because of this, the use of kinetic inhibitors in deep waters is generally regarded as impractical.

Fortunately, researchers at the University of Wyoming have found an alternative method by which to prevent clathrate hydrate formation. We have discovered a method by which ionic liquids are used to shift the hydrate-aqueous liquid-vapor equilibrium curve to a lower temperature (which helps to prevent hydrate formation) while, at the same time, retard hydrate nucleation and growth rates. By acting as both kinetic and thermodynamic inhibitors, these ionic inhibitors are much more effective and cost efficient than either inhibitor used alone.

If you would like to learn more about this novel fuel cell technology and how your company may apply it in commercial situations, please contact the Director of the University of Wyoming Research Product Center, Davona Douglass. We would be please to share further details.