Effect of Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes on Natural Gas Hydrate Formation

Using Co-Mo/MgO catalyst, single walled carbon nanotubes with a diameter of 2 nm and a length of 10 µm were produced by chemical vapor deposition process and characterized by XRD, FTIR and SEM. Synthesized single-walled carbon nanotubes were dissolved in water to make a 1 w% solution and stabilized by adding sodium dodecyl sulfate surfactant. The synthesized stabilized nanofluid was used in the gaseous hydrate formation at a temperature of 4˚C and pressure of 1000 psig. The results were compared with a water/surfactant control solution and it was found that carbon nanotubes have reduced the duration of dissolution process by 58.9% and duration of the induction process by 75.5%. In addition, the amount of gas entrapment and stability of the gas in the hydrate were increased by 13.6% and 18.2%, respectively.