News & Events
- July 15th, 2008Flowasta released
- June, 2008 Calsep joins Tulsa University Hydrate JIP
Hydrate Kinetics
The Flowasta hydrate kinetics module assesses all the basic physical mechanisms behind hydrate formation. Hydrate growth takes place in the water phase and is limited by diffusion of gas from the hydrocarbon phases into the water phase. The transfer rate depends on flow regime and viscosities of the flowing phases. Heat is released when hydrates are formed, which to some extent limits further hydrate growth. Hydrate slurries are viscous and the module simulates how the pipeline pressure develops as hydrates form.
Adding hydrate inhibitors as for example methanol or glycols can prevent gas hydrate formation, but hydrate inhibition is costly and may also harm the environment. Since hydrate formation is a slow process, there will be cases when an equilibrium simulation would indicate severe hydrate problems while in reality no or limited hydrate problems are seen. Flowasta is designed to assist the flow assurance engineer decide on the possible need for adding hydrate inhibitors to prevent costly production stops caused by hydrate plugging.
