Description:
Natural gas hydrate (NGH) technology holds great promise in natural gas storage and transportation. Utilization of promotor can effectively improve NGH formation kinetics. In this work, we constructed -SO3--rich hydrogel clathrate (poly(styrenesulfonate-co-acrylamide), (PSS-co-AAm)) as promoter for methane hydrate formation, with the aim of achieving rapid formation rate as well as high storage efficiency. Within swollen PSS-co-AAm hydrogel particles at swelling ratio of 120 g g-1 , induction time was 141.0 ± 121.6 min, hydrate growth rate was 0.1773 ± 0.0152 mmol mL -1 min-1 , and storage capacity was 110.84 ± 1.01 v/v, indicating that PSS-co-AAm strongly promoted hydrate formation kinetics. This was principally because PSS-co-AAm could promote hydrate formation kinetics via abundant -SO3- groups, and meanwhile increase mass transfer via enlarged gas-liquid interface. More importantly, PSS-co-AAm could slightly improve hydrate compactness and completely avoid foaming problem, and meanwhile scarcely cause severe pollution during utilization. The promoting efficiency of PSS-co-AAm were vulnerable to swelling ratio, and the swelling ratio in the range of 60~120 g g-1 was preferable. This hydrogel-based promoter was demonstrated to be effective and eco-friendly for methane hydrate formation, which might be benefit for large-scale industrialization of NGH technology