Insights of Molecular Dynamics Simulation To Investigate the Impact of Ethylene Glycol on Methane Hydrate Dissociation

Gas hydrate is a tremendous source of clean energy found all over the world. The controllable extraction of natural gas for commercial applications from gas hydrates is a difficult and challenging task. In the oil and gas industry, hydrate inhibitors are crucial for flow assurance, especially in subsea and deepwater operations. These hydrates can block pipelines and equipment, leading to flow restrictions, reduced efficiency, and potential safety hazards. Therefore, managing hydrate formation is a key concern in the industry. Also, designing better hydrate inhibitor formulations is becoming the need of the hour as the world is moving toward a more gas-based economy. So, it is very important to understand the effect of these additives on CH4 hydrate. However, the mechanism and extent of hydrate inhibition with additives, such as alcohol, are yet to be understood fully. Hence, understanding the CH4 hydrate dissociation process and various thermodynamic parameters under the influence of these additives is very important. In this study, an investigation was done to determine the effect of ethylene glycol concentration on CH4 hydrate dissociation by molecular dynamic simulation under varying thermodynamic conditions. The water cage integrity is investigated at different times, temperatures, and pressures. To be able to quantify the decomposition and mechanism of CH4 hydrate, the radial distribution function (RDF) and total energy were studied. The result of the RDF and mean square displacement of water and ethylene glycol shows that the hydrate cages stability decreases as the temperature increases. When the ethylene glycol concentration was increased from 0% to 5%, gas hydrate dissociation increased. Dissociation of the hydrate system is enhanced by both increasing concentration and temperature or both, respectively. According to the results of this study and previous research findings, such a work would aim to offer effective tips/guidelines for processing hydrate formations and dissociations.