LAUSR

Reliable prediction of hydrate suppression temperature in presence of inhibitors, such as salts, over a wide range of pressures (up to 200 MPa) is critically important, especially in the area of deepwater oil and gas production. However, the existing models and correlations that account for salts have severe limitations and deficiencies in estimating the hydrate suppression temperature. Herein, we propose a new correlation, to be called Hu-Lee-Sum correlation, that significantly improves the predictions of the hydrate suppression temperature by considering the salt species and concentrations, system temperature and pressure, and hydrate structure. This article represents part I of this work and it will detail the development of the correlation and demonstrate the generality and universality of the correlation to predict the hydrate suppression temperature for any single salt system. Specifically, we show accurate predictions for the hydrate suppression temperature for a number of chloride and bromide salt brine systems. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2017