Accelerated formation of methane hydrates in porous metal foams and leucine

Three kinds of porous metal foam , alumnium foam(AF), ion foam(IF) and copper foam(CF), were immersed into the aqueous phase, expecting to increase the equilibrium temperature, accelerate the CH 4 hydrates nucleation, reduce the induction time and enhance gas consumption. CF was verified to be an optimal porous medium for CH 4 hydrates due to its equilibrium temperature of 279.26 K with an induction time of 66 min around 5.0 MPa, and the accelerated gas consuming rate, showing an excellent thermodynamic-kinetic dual promotion ability. In order to enhance CH 4 consumption, 0.3 wt% leucine was added as a kinetic promoter, increasing the CH 4 consumption to be around 0.15 mol per mole of water, nearly 3–4 times more than that of pure water and those without leucine.