OPTIMIZATION OF KIHARA POTENTIAL PARAMETERS FOR GAS HYDRATE PREDICTION IN THE PRESENCE OF ELECTROLYTES

Ideal solid solution theory of van der Waals with Kihara potential are used for predicting hydrate formation conditions in pure water and el ectrolyte solutions. Kihara potential parameters are optimized for gas -water interactions in hydrate lattice from experimental hydrate forma tion data of pure or mixed gases in pure water. The optimized Kihara p otential parameters with a model that incorporates temperature depende ncy of water activity are used to predict hydrate formation conditions in electrolyte solutions. The results show good agreement between exp erimental data and predicted values. The ability of the proposed model is also compared with other models.