| Methane hydrate nucleation and growth from a bulk phase has been investigated using a quiescent high-pressure view cell. Several hydrate formation/dissociation cycles have been performed at two different initial pressures (10 MPa and 19.5 MPa). Every experiment was performed with a maximum of five consecutive cycles of cooling/heating. For each cycle, the induction time of incipient hydrate formation has been determined. On one hand, results obtained from cycles using fresh water led to the conclusion that the hydrate formation process is rather stochastic, with induction times varying over a large scale. On the other hand, the whole dataset enabled us to investigate on the controversial memory effect of water which may have the ability to fasten the... |
