Surface Coatings and Treatments for Controlled Hydrate Formation: A Mini Review

Abstract

Gas hydrates (GHs) are known to pose serious flow assurance challenges for the oil and gas industry. Neverthless, over the last few decades, gas hydrates-based technology has been explored for various energy- and environmentally related applications. For both applications, a controlled formation of GHs is desired. Management of hydrate formation by allowing them to form within the pipelines in a controlled form over their complete mitigation is preferred. Moreover, environmental, benign, non-chemical methods to accelerate the rate of hydrate formation are in demand. This review focused on the progress made in the last decade on the use of various surface coatings and treatments to control the hydrate formation at atmospheric pressure and in realistic conditions of high pressure. It can be inferred that both surface chemistry (hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity) and surface morphology play a significant role in deciding the hydrate adhesion on a given surface.

Keywords

• gas hydrates
• flow assurance
• hydrate adhesion
• hydrate-phobic surfaces
• wettability
• coatings