Towards a fundamental understanding of biopolymers and their role in gas hydrates: A review

This review highlights the performance of biopolymers in the petroleum industry. It summarizes the recent developments in biopolymers as Kinetic Hydrate Inhibitors (KHIs), their selection criteria, current experimental findings, and inhibition mechanism. The experimental data of various research groups are analyzed critically and assessed systematically in terms of nucleation time, nucleation temperature, hydrate growth rate, gas consumed during hydrate formation, average depression temperature (Delta T) and percentage relative inhibition strength (% RIS). The available experimental data is differentiated based on driving force i.e. sub-cooling temperature. Recent studies in this field have provided more understanding in the development of economical, effective and biodegradable KHIs for both academics and industrial applications.