HYDRATE GROWTH MODEL BASED ON NON-EQUILIBRIUM THERMODYNAMICS USING THE PRIGOGINE AFFINITY AS A DRIVING FORCE

Gas hydrates are crystalline solids formed at low temperatures and high pressures. Those conditions are present in offshore production, where it can lead to blockages. Although there are consolidated operating procedures to avoid these blockages, there are also limitations to their use. Because of that, a better understanding of the growing phenomenon will allow the development of alternative operating procedures. The non-equilibrium thermodynamics can provide clarification on some conceptually relevant problems. Therefore, the objective of this work is to develop a new model for the hydrate growth kinetics with a new driving force (Prigogine's Affinity), which includes the thermodynamic factor. In this work, we evaluate the diffusion and reaction effects on the growth rate of CH4 hydrate. The calculated results showed good agreement with the experimental data from the literature.