Kinetic promotion of gas hydrate formations using dispersions

CO2 hydrate has promising applications like carbon capture and storage (CCS). However, the slow formation kinetics hinders these large-scale applications. Dry water, a water-in-gas dispersion stabilized by a Pickering agent (usually partially hydrophobized silica nanoparticles) has been used to enhance CO2 hydrate formation kinetics by massively increasing the water - gas interfacial area for a given volume of water. We investigated CO2 hydrate nucleation and crystal growth kinetics in dry water in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and seven water-insoluble nucleation promoters. Doping a small amount of nucleation promoters did not ruin the stability of dry water or weaken the promoting effect of dry water on CO2 hydrate nucleation kinetics. Dispersing water in CO2 as dry water promoted hydrate nucleation kinetics and doping of the additives promoted hydrate crystal growth kinetics. This synergistic effect could be utilized to store more CO2 in a hydrate form at a faster rate.