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© 2019, The Author(s). A facile, new and promising technique based on waterborne polymers for designing and synthesizing kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs) has been proposed to prevent methane hydrate formation. This topic is challenging subject in flow assurance problems in gas and oilfields. Proposed technique helps to get KHIs with required number and distance of hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups in molecule and good solubility in water. The performance of these new KHIs was investigated by high pressure micro-differential scanning calorimeter (HP-μDSC) and high-pressure autoclave cell. The results demonstrated the high performance of these inhibitors in delay the induction time (10–20 times) and reduce the hydrate growth rate (3 times). Also they did not increase hydrate dissociation temperature in comparison with pure water and show thermodynamic inhibition as well. Inhibition effect of synthesized polymers is improved with the increase of concentration significantly. Since this is the first report of the use of waterborne polymers as kinetic hydrate inhibitor, we expect that KHIs based on waterborne-based polymers can be a prospective option for preventing methane hydrate formation.

© 2019 American Chemical Society. Reduction in the induction period of hydrate formation and enhancement of the gas hydrate growth are vital parameters in the application of gas hydrates technique for methane storage. In this work, ethylene diamine tetraacetamide (EDTAM) was developed as a new promoting agent for methane storage. The effect of EDTAM on methane hydrate formation parameters was evaluated by high-pressure micro differential scanning calorimeter (HP-DSC) and high-pressure autoclave cell at 2 °C and 8.0 MPa as the static and dynamic conditions, respectively. The results demonstrated that the onset temperature of methane hydrate formation was increased from -14 °C in the pure water system to -3 °C by adding 0.5 wt % EDTAM. The average conversion of water to hydrate was multiplied by a factor of 20.0 (from 3.2 wt % in pure water to 64.0 wt % in EDTAM solution) due to the presence of 0.5 wt % of EDTAM. Moreover, the EDTAM reduced induction time of methane hydrate formation by a factor of 4 in comparison with pure water in both static (DSC experiments) and dynamic (autoclave experiments) conditions. Also, EDTAM increased considerably the amount of consumed mole of methane, especially during the first stage of hydrate growth. Unlike surfactants, the addition of EDTAM does not induce formation of large amount of foam in the hydrate formation/dissociation process. All obtained results confirmed that the EDTAM is an efficient and prospective promoter for methane hydrate formation.