Campus Units
Mechanical Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Accepted Manuscript
Publication Date
1-6-2021
Journal or Book Title
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering
First Page
108334
DOI
10.1016/j.petrol.2020.108334
Abstract
Hydrate plug formation remains a common issue in off-shore oil extraction. These plugs usually form within low temperature, high pressure environments over a short timeframe. It is desirable to visualize and quantify hydrate formation, where the results can later be used to validate formation models. This study presents preliminary findings from the use of X-ray imaging to capture temporal images of the hydrate formation process using cyclopentane, which forms a structure II hydrate, similar to that formed in oil extraction. A hydrate region was formed within a mixing chamber, and the formation process was captured using both X-ray radiography and X-ray computed tomography (CT). Image processing procedures were developed to extract qualitative and quantitative measures of hydrate formation. Formation trends correlated to the recorded time-temperature histories within the mixing tank. Additionally, formation growth patterns were qualitatively consistent across multiple trials. Quantitative analysis, however, remained difficult due to slight variations in X-ray intensity and temperature histories that resulted in significant differences in the measured hydrate region.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Copyright Owner
Elsevier B.V.
Copyright Date
2020
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Pillers, Roy A. and Heindel, Theodore J., "Dynamic Visualization of Hydrate Formation using X-Ray Imaging" (2021). Mechanical Engineering Publications. 460.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/me_pubs/460
Comments
This is a manuscript of an article published as Pillers, Roy A., and Theodore J. Heindel. "Dynamic Visualization of Hydrate Formation using X-Ray Imaging." Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering (2021): 108334. DOI: 10.1016/j.petrol.2020.108334. Posted with permission.