A New Mass Transfer Model for Predicting Hydrate Film Thickness at the Gas-Liquid Interface under Different Thermodynamics-Hydrodynamics-Saturation Conditions

The accurate prediction of hydrate film thickness is critical for addressing the hydrate-related issues in the fields of environment and energy resource, including the disposal of greenhouse gases into the ocean, evaluating the rising lifetime of bubble plumes in deepwater, and flow assurance problems in subsea pipelines. However, the microscopic mass-transfer mechanism in the existing hydrate film growth models has not been thoroughly studied, especially in the pore updating inside the hydrate film. In this work, an integrated mechanistic model of hydrate film growth at the gas–liquid interface is developed. Multiple mass-transfer behaviors that potentially control the thickening growth of hydrate film are considered: (i) gas diffusion and water permeation through the hydrate film; (ii) substance dissipation along the hydrate pore channels; and (iii) gas transfer between the water/hydrate interface and the surrounding fluid. In the new model, a characteristic parameter is introduced to evaluate the pore ...