Microscopic study on the key process and influence of efficient synthesis of natural gas hydrate by in situ Raman analysis of water microstructure in different systems with temperature drop

Gas hydrate technology has considerable potential in many fields.However,due to the lack of understanding of the micro mechanism of hydrate formation,it has not been commercially applied so far.Gas hydrate formation is essentially a gas-liquid-solid phase transition of water and gas molecules at a certain temperature and pressure.The key to the hydrate formation is the transformation of water molecule from disordered arrangement to ordered arrangement.In this process,weakly hydrogen bonded water will be correspondingly converted to strongly hydrogen bonded water.Through in situ Raman analysis and experiments,the position change of the corresponding peaks of the strongly hydrogen bonded water and the weakly hydrogen bonded water was compared in this work,and the key microscopic process and influence of gas hydrate formation in different systems were comprehensively studied and summarized.It is found that,with the decrease of temperature,the OAH of the weakly hydrogen bonded water remains unchanged when the temperature drops to a certain value,which is the key to the transformation of water into cage hydrate rather than ice.The conversion from the weakly hydrogen bonded water to the strongly hydrogen bonded water is closely related to the gas-liquid interface force,the hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of the promoter,the ionization degree of liquid,and the electrostatic field of the system.Among the four most common promoters,tetrahydrofuran(THF)has the highest efficiency in promoting methane(CH4)hydrate formation.Therefore,this study provides a scientific direction and basis for the development of high efficient hydrate formation promoters,which can effectively weaken the hydrogen bond of weakly hydrogen bonded water and promote the conversion of weakly hydrogen bonded water to strongly hydrogen bonded water.

How to Investigate the Setting Kinetics of Refractory Castables——A Review of Methods and Their Relevancy for Technical Use

This article contributes to a meaningful interpretation of results gathered by in-situ measurements of sonic velocity, electrical conductivity and the change of temperature during setting and curing of LC refractory castables. All said monitoring techniques are well known in the refractory community and are well documented in the literature. However, the time dependent changes of the said properties are not well correlated to mineralogical and in consequence technological changes of the material during setting and curing. The basic interest of refractory users of course is to define the time at which the installation or the pre-shape construction element can be demoulded. This is in principle possible with the methods listed above. However, after water addition the time de- pendent changes of sonic velocity, electrical conductivity and temperature are diverse as there are possible combi- nations of cements, microfines and surface-active additives. In further the ambient conditions, temperature and relative humidity have a strong influence on these properties and this does not only mean a simple time-shift. Up to now the results are more confusing than helpful to determine the best time for demoulding pre-shapes and refractory linings. Recent research at Koblenz University of Applied Science contributes to a deeper understanding of the setting behaviour, because besides the physical evolution of the said parameters the time dependent formation of hydrate phases is also investigated by means of gravi-metric method. The proposed presentation will show detailed insights in the evolution of refractory castables during setting and curing.