CBE Seminar - Amadeu Sum

Prof. Amadeu K. Sum

Associate Professor

Chemical & Biological Engineering

Colorado School of Mines

Clathrate Hydrates: From Fundamental Science to Engineering Applications

Abstract

Water alone is a fascinating substance. Combining water with other small sized but chemically dissimilar compounds, cause water (host) to self-structure to maximize its hydrogen-bonding while still accommodating the other molecules (guest) into regular-sized cavities. These host/guest structures are known as clathrate hydrates, crystalline inclusion compounds forming solid solutions with the network of hydrogen bonded water molecules as the lattice framework and the guest molecules enclosed in the water cages. One of the most unusual property of clathrate hydrates is the concentration ratio of water to guest molecules, in the order of 10, which is very small considering that many of the guest molecules are small molar mass hydrocarbon and inorganic compounds that are sparingly soluble in liquid water. There is an ever growing interest and importance, not only as in furthering our fundamental understanding of these structures, but also in their application in energy-environment related areas. Clathrate hydrates formed from natural gas, called gas hydrates, are prevalent in two major contexts: energy resource with large amount of natural gas trapped in oceanic hydrate deposits, and energy intruder as a major flow assurance problem in the production and transportation of oil and gas. As an energy resource, hydrates are still in underexplored but significant advances in the recent years show the promise for future exploration. In flow assurance, as production moves to hasher environment (deeper water, longer tiebacks, more produced water), prevention, management, and remediation of hydrates are central for safe and continuous operation. From a fundamental level, a comprehensive understanding of the nucleation and growth of hydrates is still lacking. Recent efforts in this area using molecular simulations have significantly advanced the description of the molecular processes involved in the self-organization of molecules for the nucleation of hydrates. The presentation will highlight the multidisciplinary and multiscale approach for developing the science and engineering of gas hydrates.

Bio
 

Dr. Sum is Associate Professor in the Chemical & Biological Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines and leads the Hydrates Energy Innovation Laboratory. He was formerly the co-Director for the Center for Hydrate Research at the Colorado School of Mines. He holds BS degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and MS in Chemical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware. He did postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison with Prof. Juan de Pablo. Before joining the Colorado School of Mines in 2008, he spent four years at Virginia Tech as an Assistant Professor. He is a DuPont Young Professor recipient. He has been working with hydrate research for over 25 years covering experimental, theoretical, and simulation topics of hydrates in flow assurance and science (e.g., phase equilibria, kinetics, flowloop, formation /accumulation/deposition, inhibition, interfacial phenomena, spectroscopy, molecular simulations). He is author/co-author of over 120 peer-reviewed publications and a recent book on hydrates in flow assurance. He has given a number of short courses on hydrates to academia and industry. He has worked closely with industry, including a hydrate JIP and DeepStar.