Vast size hydrate formation reactors with fast conversion rate are required for the economic implementation of seawater desalination utilizing gas hydrate technology. The commercial target production rate is order of thousand tons of potable water per day per train. Various heat and mass transfer enhancement schemes including agitation, spraying, and bubbling have been examined to maximize the production capacities in scaled up design of hydrate formation reactors. The present experimental study focused on acquiring basic knowledge needed to design variable volume reactors to produce tetrafluoroethane hydrate slurry. Test vessel was composed of main cavity with fixed volume of 140 ml and auxiliary cavity with variable volume of 0 ∼ 64 ml. Temperatures at multiple locations within vessel and pressure were monitored while visual access was made through front window. Alternating evaporation and condensation induced by cyclic volume change provided agitation due to density differences among water and vapor, liquid and hydrate R134a as well as extended interface area, which improved hydrate formation kinetics coupled with latent heat release and absorption. Influences of coolant temperature, piston stroke/speed, and volume change period on hydrate formation kinetics were investigated. Suggestions of reactor design improvement for future experimental study are also made.

Owing to the massive expansion and intermittent nature of renewable power, green hydrogen production, storage, and transportation technologies with improved economic returns need to be developed. Moreover, the slowness of the dehydrogenation reaction is a primary barrier to the commercialization of liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) technology. The present study focused on increasing the speed of dehydrogenation, resulting in the proposal of a triple-loop dehydrogenation system comprising reaction, heating, and chilling loops. The reactor has a rotating cage containing a packed bed of catalyst pellets, which is designed to enhance both heat and mass transfer by helping to detach precipitated hydrogen bubbles from the catalyst surface. In addition, the centrifugal force aids in isolating the gas phase from the LOHC liquid. A dehydrogenation experiment was conducted using the reaction and chilling loops, which revealed that the average hydrogen production rate during the first hour was 52.6 LPM (liter per minute) from 26.3 L of perhydro-dibenzyl-toluene with 1.5 kg of 0.5 wt% Pt/Al₂O₃ catalyst. This was approximately 48% more than the value predicted with the reaction kinetics measured with a small-scale plug flow dehydrogenation reactor with less than 1.0 g of 5.0 wt% Pt/Al₂O₃ catalyst. The concept, construction methods, and results of the preliminary gas infiltration, flow visualization, and reactor pumping experiments are also described in this paper.

Two-phase flow is encountered in various engineering areas, including the pharmaceutical, chemical, and food industries, desalination facilities, and thermal energy storage systems. Cost-effective and non-invasive monitoring of the solid volume fraction, which governs the thermos-physical properties of two-phase medium, is important for flow assurance. The flow loop having an inner diameter of 21.5 mm and length of about 12.2 m was equipped with square-edged orifice and slash plate pump. Tetrafluroethane (R134a) hydrate slurry of the specified solid volume fraction could be formed within the flow loop by removing an appropriate amount of water, and simultaneously injecting the pertinent amount of R134a while chilled at 275 K. The uncertainty in the thus-obtained solid volume fraction was smaller than 9%, with the largest contribution originating from the uncertain hydration number. The near power-law relationship between the orifice pressure loss coefficient and Metzner–Reed Reynolds number was recognized. However, the nonlinear nature of the Reynolds number with respect to the solid volume fraction inevitably makes the solution procedure iterative. The short span pressure differences across the orifice were regressed to yield empirical correlation, with which the solid volume fraction of R134a slurry could be determined from the measured pressure drop across the orifice and the flow rate. The uncertainty was less than 12% of the thus determined solid volume fraction.