title: Dissociation behavior of C2H6 hydrate at temperatures below the ice point: melting to liquid water followed by ice nucleation.
abstract: The dissociation of C(2)H(6) hydrate particles by slow depressurization at temperatures slightly below the ice melting point was studied using optical microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Visual observations and Raman measurements revealed that ethane hydrates can be present as a metastable state at pressures lower than the dissociation pressures of the three components: ice, hydrate, and free gas. However, they decompose into liquid water and gas phases once the system pressure drops to the equilibrium boundary for supercooled water, hydrate, and free gas. Structural analyses of obtained Raman spectra indicate that structures of the metastable hydrates and liquid water from the hydrate decay are fundamentally identical to those of the stable hydrates and supercooled water without experience of the hydration. These results imply a considerably high energy barrier for the direct hydrate-to-ice transition. Water solidification, probably induced by dynamic nucleation, was also observed during melting.
authors: Production Technology Team, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 2-17-2-1 Tsukisamu-Higashi, Toyohiraku, Sapporo 062-8517, Japan. hiroshi-ohno@aist.go.jp
authors: Hiroshi
authors: H
authors: Ohno
authors: Ikumi
authors: I
authors: Oyabu
authors: Yoshinori
authors: Y
authors: Iizuka
authors: Takeo
authors: T
authors: Hondoh
authors: Hideo
authors: H
authors: Narita
authors: Jiro
authors: J
authors: Nagao