Effectiveness of pyrrolidinium based ionic liquids in flow assurance: Preventing hydrates formation in offshore sub-sea pipelines

Abstract

The formation of hydrates within the offshore subsea pipelines is a major challenge to flow assurance in oil and gas industry. Annually, the industry spends large amount of money on thermodynamic inhibitors like methanol and methyl ethylene glycol (MEG) to prevent hydrates formation. However, large quantity (>30 wt %) of MEG and methanol is required for this process, causing disposal and corrosion issues. MEG is also very expensive and methanol is dangerous to use in offshore facilities due to its high flammability. This has shifted the interest of researchers towards the use of ionic liquids (ILs) to prevent hydrates formation in sub-sea pipelines. Thus, the aim of this work is to test the effectiveness of pyrrolidinium based ILs in preventing hydrates formation and check for exhibition of any dual inhibition behaviour by these ILs.