Formation and dissociation of CH4 and CO2 hydrates in presence of a sediment composed by pure quartz mixed with Ti23 particles

The present research deals with the formation and dissociation of methane and carbon dioxide hydrates in a confined environment (small—size reactor) and in presence of a porous sedi- ment of pure quartz impregnated with Ti23 particles. This research is part of a wider study aimed at verifying the possibility to use metallic powders, produced via gas-atomization for applications in additive manufacturing, as additives during the production/dissociation of gas hydrates. The po- rous medium was used to ensure the presence of Ti23 particles in the whole volume and not only in the lowest portion of the internal volume. For both the guest compounds considered, two Ti23 concentrations were explored, respectively, 8.68 and 26.04 wt%. Under the thermodynamic point of view, the dissociation process well approximated the phase equilibrium (defined with values col- lected from literature) for both compounds. In addition, the amount of gas trapped into hydrates, evaluated as a function of the initial amount of gas inserted inside the reactor, did not show relevant changes. Conversely, the presence of Ti23 was found to reduce the induction time for both compo- nents, thus allowing to define it as a kinetic promoter for the process. Such tendency was found to increase with the concentration.