A Novel Gas Hydrate Morphology: Massive Hollow Fiber Growth on a Porous Substrate
Abstract
Video microscopy reveals a novel morphology and growth process of a gas hydrate, promoted here by a porous activated carbon substrate astride a guest–host interface. Surface pores of the substrate continuously extrude hollow cyclopentane hydrate fibers, fed by flow of the guest through the substrate. Growth continues even when it pushes the substrate away from the interface, fed by flow of either fluid through the fibers themselves, so that fiber growth is limited here by the size of the setup. This remarkable process overcomes the gas hydrate mass-transfer bottleneck, which in quiescent systems limits the conversion of water and guest to a thin impervious hydrate crust between the two phases.