PLICATION OF COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS SOFTWARE IN THE FORMATION AND DISSOCIATION OF HYDRATES IN PIPELINES

ABSTRACT

Gas hydrates have been identified as obstacles in the gas industry in which under certain temperature and pressure conditions, a lattice of water surrounds gas molecules such as methane, ethane, or carbon dioxide and generates a stable solid, similar to ice water. This work aims to review the formation and dissociation of hydrates, evaluate the equations governing them and apply CFD software to hydrate formation and dissociation in pipelines. Steel pipeline was considered and the fluid flow was taken as incompressible using SIMSCALE software. At low temperature and high pressure, hydrates tend to form in pipelines. Length, time, mass flow rate were parameters used to predict hydrate formation in pipelines. Introduction of inhibitors were found to reduce or eliminate hydrate formation.