High-Pressure UV-Curing Rheometer for Investigating Phase Change Flow

水是自然界中最重要的化合物之一，它不仅对生命负责，而且在许多与能源和安全有关的过程中发挥着重要作用。当水暴露在适当的热力学条件和成分中时，它会经历两个重大的相变：冰和气体水合物。飞机、船舶、海上石油平台、风力涡轮机、电信和输电线路等现代基础设施上的结冰危及其完整性，并对操作员和平民构成重大安全威胁。另一方面，天然气水合物被视为一种新的/替代方法，以满足我们日益增长的能源需求，从而提高我们的生活质量。自然生成的天然气水合物具有巨大的储能，超过了传统的碳储量，而且主要含有天然气。本提案中要求的现有高压流变仪的附加组件将为水的流动提供独特的洞察力，不仅是液体状态，也是带有软固体(冰和水合物)的浆体。所描述的定制单位的温度和压力范围只能使用另一个单位(在奥地利，据我们所知)。这些信息对于设计安全、经济和对环境负责的处理冰和水合物形成系统的工艺和设施以及开发作为未来能源的就地甲烷水合物至关重要。流变仪的进一步改进包括使用UV固化系统研究相变材料(以绘制表面图案)，以及通过拉伸流动再次定向表面的拉伸流变仪工具，以观察有图案的表面对结冰和相关现象的影响。这项工作将采用一种新的方法，探索纳米材料表面和聚合物添加剂对冰和天然气水合物形成系统的影响。其目的是阐明在这些表面和添加剂存在的情况下，水在转变为冰或水合物时的流动行为。这项工作的结果有可能使加拿大走在与除冰技术有关的技术前沿，这些技术可防止冰的积聚和天然气的回收、储存和运输。

Water is one of the most significant compounds in nature that is not only responsible for life but also plays a significant role in many processes related to energy and safety. Water can undergo two significant phase changes when it is exposed to the proper thermodynamic conditions and components: Ice and Gas Hydrate. Ice accretion on modern infrastructure such as aircrafts, ships, offshore oil platforms, wind turbines, telecommunications and power transmission lines jeopardizes their integrity and poses a significant safety hazard to operators and civilians alike. Gas hydrates on the other hand, are viewed as a new/alternative method to sustain our increasing energy demands and hence, our quality of life. Naturally occurring gas hydrates have enormous amounts of stored energy that exceeds conventional carbon reserves and mostly contain natural gas. The add-ons requested in this proposal to the existing High-Pressure Rheometer will provide a unique insight into the flow of water, in a liquid state, but also as a slurry with soft-solids (ice and hydrate). The range of temperatures and pressures with the custom unit described can be performed with only one other unit (in Austria, that we are aware of). This information is essential for the design of safe, economical, and environmentally responsible processes and facilities to deal with ice and hydrate-forming systems, as well as for the exploitation of in-situ methane hydrate as a future energy resource. Further enhancements to the rheometer include studying phase change materials using a UV curing system (to pattern surfaces) and an extensional rheometer tooling to again orient surfaces via extensional flow to observe the effect of patterned surfaces on ice accretion and related phenomena. A novel approach will be undertaken in this work, exploring the effects of nanomaterial surfaces and polymeric additives on both ice and gas hydrate forming systems. The goal is to elucidate the behavior of the flow of water in the presence of these surfaces and additives as it transitions to either ice or hydrate. The outcome of such work has the potential to place Canada at the forefront of technologies related to de-icing techniques that preclude ice accretion and natural gas recovery, storage and transportation.