Gas hydrate blockage in pipelines during offshore production becomes a major problem with increasing water depth. In this work, a series of experiments on gas hydrate formation in a flow loop was performed with low flow rates of 0.33, 0.66, and 0.88 m/s; the effects of the initial subcooling, flow rate, pressure, and morphology were investigated for methane hydrate formation in the flow loop. The results indicate that the differential pressure drop (ΔP) across two ends of the horizontal straight pipe increases with increasing hydrate concentration at the early stage of gas hydrate formation. When the flow rates of hydrate fluid are low, the higher the subcooling is, the faster the transition of the hydrates macrostructures. Gas hydrates can agglomerate, and sludge hydrates appear at subcoolings of 6.5 and 8.5 °C. The difference between the ΔP values at different flow rates is small, and there is no obvious influence of the flow rates on ΔP. Three hydrate macrostructures were observed: slurry-like, sludge-like, and their transition. When the initial pressure is 8.0 MPa, large methane hydrate blockages appear at the gas hydrate concentration of approximately 7%. Based on the gas–liquid two-phase flow model, a correlation between the gas hydrate concentration and the value of ΔP is also presented. These results can enrich the kinetic data of gas hydrate formation and agglomeration and provide guidance for oil and gas transportation in pipelines.

Polyvinylcaprolactam (PVCap) is an economic kinetic inhibitor for hydrate formation in pipelines during oil and gas transportation. However, its application is limited because of the low inhibition performance under certain conditions. In this work, a modified PVCap on its chain end is proposed. 2-amino-3-propionic acid mercapto-terminated polyvinyl caprolactam (PVCap-NH${}_2$-COOH) was synthesized and its performance as a KHI for methane hydrate formation was evaluated under different conditions. Results showed that the performance of PVCap-NH${}_2$-COOH as a KHI was better than that of PVCap at the same concentrations. Gas hydrate samples with 1 wt.% PVCap-NH${}_2$-COOH were measured using Raman spectroscopy, XRD, and cryo-SEM. PVCap-NH${}_2$-COOH had a selective action on a specific crystal surface of the hydrates and could prevent methane molecules from entering large cages. Its inhibition ability increased with the decrease in the occupancy rate of large cages. The morphology of the gas hydrate crystal changed from porous in a pure water system to a chaotic but compact structure state in the system with PVCap-NH${}_2$-COOH.