Kinetics of gas hydrate formation in w/o-emulsions The model system trichlorofluoromethane/water/non-ionic surfactant studied by means of dielectric spectroscopy

The kinetics of trichlorofluoromethane (CCl3F) hydrate formation in water-in-oil emulsions stabilised by a nonionic surfactant (Berol 26) were studied by means of dielectric spectroscopy. The dielectric spectra were recorded between 10 MHz and 1 GHz using time domain spectroscopy. A shell model of the dispersed droplets was used to determine the conversion of clathrate hydrate in the emulsion droplets. Simulations of the experimental findings are based on a simple reaction kinetics model. The model consists of three processes: the diffusion of CCl3F from the continuous oil phase into the dispersed water phase, the slow uncatalysed formation of clathrate hydrate, followed by an autocatalytic production of clathrate hydrate. The overall process is limited by the diffusion of CCl3F from the continuous oil phase into the dispersed water droplets.