Molecular Dynamics Study of Clathrate-like Ordering of Water in Supersaturated Methane Solution at Low Pressure

Using molecular dynamics, the evolution of a metastable solution for "methane + water" was studied for concentrations of 3.36, 6.5, 9.45, 12.2, and 14.8 mol% methane at 270 K and 1 bar during 100 ns. We have found the intriguing behavior of the system containing over 10,000 water molecules: the formation of hydrate-like structures is observed at 6.5 and 9.45 mol% concentrations throughout the entire solution volume. This formation of "blobs" and the following amorphous hydrate were studied. The creation of a metastable methane solution through supersaturation is the key to triggering the collective process of hydrate formation under low pressure. Even the first stage (0-1 ns), before the first fluctuating cavities appear, is a collective process of H-bond network reorganization. The formation of fluctuation cavities appears before steady hydrate growth begins and is associated with a preceding uniform increase in the water molecule's tetrahedrality. Later, the constantly presented hydrate cavities become the foundation for a few independent hydrate nucleation centers, this evolution is consistent with the labile cluster and local structure hypotheses. This new mechanism of hydrogen-bond network reorganization depends on the entropy of the cavity arrangement of the guest molecules in the hydrate lattice and leads to hydrate growth.