Resolving Temperature-Dependent Hydrate Nucleation Pathway: The Role of "Transition Layer"

Understanding the nucleation of natural gas hydrate (NGH) at different conditions has important implications to NGH recovery and other industrial applications, such as gas storage and separation. Herein, vast numbers of hydrate nucleation events are traced via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at different degrees of supercooling (or driving forces). Specifically, to precisely characterize a hydrate nucleus from an aqueous system during the MD simulation, we develop an evolutionary order parameter (OP) to recognize the nucleus size and shape. Subsequently, the free energy landscapes of hydrate during nucleation are explored by using the newly developed OP. The results suggest that at 270 K (or 0.92 T_m supercooling, where T_m is the melting point), the near-rounded nucleus prevails during the nucleation, as described from the classical nucleation theory. In contrast, at relatively strong driving forces of 0.85 and 0.88 T_m, nonclassical nucleation events arise. Specifically, the pathway toward an elongated nucleus becomes as important as the pathway toward a near-rounded nucleus. To explain the distinct nucleation phenomena at different supercoolings, a notion of a "transition layer" (or liquid-blob-like layer) is proposed. Here, the transition layer is to describe the interfacial region between the nucleus and aqueous solution, and this layer entails two functionalities: (1) it tends to retain CH₄ depending on the degrees of supercooling and (2) it facilitates collision among CH₄, which thus promote the incorporation of CH₄ into nucleus. Our simulation indicates that compared to the near-rounded nucleus, the transition layer surrounding the elongated nucleus is more evident with the higher collision rate among CH₄ molecules. As such, the transition layer tends to promote the elongated nucleus pathway, while offsetting the cost of larger surface free energy associated with the elongated nucleus. At 0.92 T_m, however, the transition layer gradually disappears, and classical nucleation events dominate. Overall, the notion of "transition layer" offers deeper insight into the NGH nucleation at different degrees of supercooling and could be extended to describe other types of hydrate nucleation.