Clathrate Hydrate for Phase Change Cold Storage: Simulation Advances and Potential Applications

Simulation studies have been considered a key approach to promote the commercial application of hydrate phase change materials (PCMs) cold storage technology. This paper reviews simulation advances in optimizing hydrate thermodynamic and kinetic conditions. The existing applicable phase equilibrium models are summarized to solve the problem of high phase equilibrium pressure of hydrate, the simulation methods to change the phase equilibrium conditions by finding suitable additives are pointed out, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the effect of hydrate structures on the phase equilibrium conditions are also summarized; For the thermal conductivity, supercooling, nucleation and growth of hydrate, the available models and their optimization methods are outlined, and the possibility of finding suitable nucleating agents through simulation is proposed; In addition, this paper reviews the energy efficiency, economic costs, environmental protection and improvement directions of the cold storage systems, and the application of theoretical models and various simulation software are pointed out. In conclusion, a comprehensive outlook on the simulation study of hydrate cold storage is given.