Dielectric Method for Diagnosing Formation of Gas Hydrates in Gas Pipelines

Abstract

Experimental study of low-frequency dependence of the dielectric properties of gas hydrate in the process of growth and dissociation in the range 50- 1000 kHz is conducted. It is found that the dielectric loss tangent maximum value is observed at a frequency of 260 kHz and depends on the amount of gas hydrate in the measuring cell. Comparison of degrees of gas-hydrate formations obtained by two independent methods (PVT-method and dielectric method) showed good agreement. It allows us to offer a simple method of controlling the process gas-hydrate formations in the pipes based the measurement of the dielectric loss tangent at a certain frequency.