Efficient Storage of Methane in Hydrate Form Using Soybean Powder

Natural gas is a promising future source for the increasing energy demand. It is partially clean energy with fewer environmental impacts, and it is necessary to develop technologies to cater to the supply chain. Due to their inherent structural properties, gas hydrates or clathrate hydrates are promising materials for capturing and storing methane gas. In the present study, the experimental investigations were performed to assess the utilization of soybean powder (SBP) as a promoting additive compared to sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) for methane hydrate formation. The methane hydrate formation temperature and pressure with SBP are 277.8 ± 3.2 K, 7050.9 ± 76.2 kPa, similar to SDS 277.2 ± 0.3 K, 7446.3 ± 5.7 kPa in the non-stirred system. The gas uptake capacity is about 94.2 ± 4.5 v/v and 92.4 ± 4.6 v/v with SBP and SDS, which is ~60% of the practical, achievable limit. The time for the 90% of hydrate conversion is ~4.6 times higher for SBP than SDS. The more prolonged kinetics is ascribed to the complex constituents in the SBP. In contrast to the SDS solution, no foam was produced in the sample of the SBP solution. The current studies demonstrate that SBP can be utilized to develop cleaner and more effective promoters for methane hydrate formation without foam creation.