Effects of Fullerene Nanostructure on Natural Gas Hydrate Formation Process

In this paper, nanostructure of fullerene was synthesized in laboratory by KRASHMR- HOFFMAN method based on arc mechanisms. First, fullerene nanofluid was prepared at 1wt.% in order to use in gas hydrate formation and investigation the effect of fullerene on yield of process and storage capacity. Second since fullerene is not stable in water, SDS was used as surfactant for increasing the stability of the nanofluid. It was shownthat the prepared nanofluids had good stability. Third, in the process of natural gas hydrate formation containing 92.6% methane, fullerene nanofluid accelerates the gas solubility in water and reduces induction time of the process 53.2%. Angstrom pore structure due to the spherical shape of fullerene is great place to keep gas molecules. Therefore, the storage capacity of gas hydrates increased 5.5% by fullerene. It was observed despite that the presence of fullerene nanostructure reduced 1.3% of hydrate stability, but in the presence of this nanostructure results in increase of the residual gas hydrate after reaching the self presentation phenomenon and thorough stability.