A Study of the Kinetic Hydrate Inhibitor Performance and Seawater Biodegradability of a Series of Poly(2-alkyl-2-oxazoline)s
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Villano, Luca Del; Kommedal, Roald; Fijten, Martin W. M.; Schubert, Ulrich S.; Hoogenboom, Richard; Kelland, Malcolm A.
- Abstract:
- Kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs) have been used successfully in the field for about the last 14 years to
prevent gas hydrate formation mostly in gas and oilfield production lines. They work by delaying the nucleation
and often also the growth of gas hydrate crystals for periods of time dependent on the subcooling in the
system. Poly(2-alkyl-2-oxazoline)s [or poly(N-acylalkylene imine)s] are a known class of KHI, but no work
has previously been published detailing a systematic study of structure versus performance. In this paper we
report the KHI performance of poly(2-alkyl-2-oxazoline) homopolymers and statistical copolymers with alkyl
side groups up to four carbon atoms. The study includes hydrate crystal growth tests on structure II
tetrahydrofuran hydrate crystals as well as high pressure nucleation and crystal growth studies on a synthetic
natural gas mixture giving structure II hydrates. Seawater biodegradation studies on all the polymers according
to the OECD306 procedure indicate that they are all poorly biodegradable (
- Year:
- 2009
- Type of Publication:
- Article
- Journal:
- Energy {&} Fuels
- Volume:
- 23
- Pages:
- 3665 - 3673