title: Biosurfactant as a Promoter of Methane Hydrate Formation: Thermodynamic and Kinetic Studies.
abstract: Natural gas hydrates (NGHs) are solid non-stoichiometric compounds often regarded as a next generation energy source. Successful commercialization of NGH is curtailed by lack of efficient and safe technology for generation, dissociation, storage and transportation. The present work studied the influence of environment compatible biosurfactant on gas hydrate formation. Biosurfactant was produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain A11 and was characterized as rhamnolipids. Purified rhamnolipids reduced the surface tension of water from 72 mN/m to 36 mN/m with Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC) of 70 mg/l. Use of 1000 ppm rhamnolipids solution in C type silica gel bed system increased methane hydrate formation rate by 42.97% and reduced the induction time of hydrate formation by 22.63% as compared to water saturated C type silica gel. Presence of rhamnolipids also shifted methane hydrate formation temperature to higher values relative to the system without biosurfactant. Results from thermodynamic and kinetic studies suggest that rhamnolipids can be applied as environment friendly methane hydrate promoter.
authors: Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India.
authors: Amit
authors: A
authors: Arora
authors: Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, India.
authors: Swaranjit Singh
authors: SS
authors: Cameotra
authors: Chemical Engineering and Process Development Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India.
authors: Rajnish
authors: R
authors: Kumar
authors: Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India.
authors: Chandrajit
authors: C
authors: Balomajumder
authors: Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, India.
authors: Anil Kumar
authors: AK
authors: Singh
authors: Centre For Material Characterization, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India.
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Santhakumari
authors: Keshav Dev Malviya Institute of Petroleum Exploration, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Dehradun, India.
authors: Pushpendra
authors: P
authors: Kumar
authors: Department of Petroleum Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India.
authors: Sukumar
authors: S
authors: Laik