Gas clathrate hydrates are a class of solid inclusion compounds comprised of a three-dimensional network of water cages (host) that can trap gas (guest) molecules, which form at typically high pressures and low temperatures. For this reason, they can form in subsea petroleum flowlines causing safety concerns and hindered production. They also occur naturally in oceanic sediments and permafrost and are being considered as a promising direction for energy storage applications. To better understand the agglomeration behavior of clathrate hydrates in liquid dominated systems, it is important to study their interfacial and wetting properties/behavior. Wettability can be quantified through contact angle measurements to predict the expected extent of particle agglomeration and plugging probability of liquid hydrocarbon systems. Understanding how hydrate formation is affected by different driving forces through contact angle measurements will provide insight to their significance. It has been shown that the temperature of the water droplet used, the annealing time used to form the crystalline hydrate particle, and the system subcooling (i.e. T<sub>equilibrium</sub> - T<sub>system</sub>) all give rise to different effects on the contact angle of water on a solid clathrate hydrate surface. Experimental results are presented here. These results will help to further understand wettability and agglomeration behavior to ultimately optimize the modeling of hydrate-bearing systems through information provided from contact angle measurements.

Driving force effects on the wetting behavior of clathrate hydrates

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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