Effect of Small Cage Guests on Dissociation Properties of Tetrahydrofuran Hydrates

It is well understood that tetrahydrofuran (THF) molecules are able to stabilize the large cages (5¹²6⁴) of structure II to form the THF hydrate with empty small cages even at atmospheric pressure. This leaves the small cages to store gas molecules at relatively lower pressures and higher temperatures. The dissociation enthalpy and temperature strongly depend on the size of gas molecules enclathrated in the small cages of structure II THF hydrate. A high-pressure microdifferential scanning calorimeter was applied to measure the dissociation enthalpies and temperatures of THF hydrates pressurized by helium and methane under a constant pressure ranging from 0.10 to 35.00 MPa and a wide THF concentration ranging from 0.25 to 8.11 mol %. The dissociation temperature of binary He + THF and methane + THF hydrates increases along with an increase in the THF concentration in the liquid phase at a fixed pressure (e.g., 30 MPa), reaching a maximum value of 280.8 and 312.8 K, respectively, at stoichiometric concentration (5.56 mol % THF), and then remains nearly constant for even higher THF concentrations (>5.56 mol %). The effect of gas occupancy in the small cages on the dissociation enthalpy of He + THF and methane + THF mixed hydrates was further examined by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The dissociation enthalpy of the He–THF mixed hydrates is independent of pressure with an average of 5.68 kJ/mol H₂O over the pressure ranging from 0.10 to 30.0 MPa, consistent with the MD results of the He–THF mixed hydrates with low single occupancy (<23%) of helium molecules in the small cages. Consequently, the heat of adsorption of helium molecules in the small cages of the He–THF mixed hydrates is rather too weak to be identified. On the other hand, the dissociation enthalpy of the methane–THF hydrates increases from 9.11 to 10.01 kJ/mol H₂O along with an increase in methane pressure over the pressure ranging from 5.0 to 30.0 MPa, consistent with the MD results of the methane–THF mixed hydrates with full occupancy of methane molecules in the small cages. These findings provide important information for the design of a potential medium of gas storage and transportation.