Growth rate of a hydrate layer at the guest/liquid-water interface is analyzed\r\nconsidering the conjugate process of the mass-transfer and hydrate crystal growth.\r\nHydrate-layer growth rate data in the literature are often compiled according to the system\r\nsubcooling (T Teq Tex, where Teq is the equilibrium dissociation temperature of the\r\nhydrate and Tex is the system temperature), suggesting predominant heat transfer\r\nlimitations. In this paper, we investigate how the existing data on hydrate-layer growth is\r\nbetter correlated to mass transfer of the guest species in liquid water in three-phase\r\nequilibrium with bulk guest fluid and hydrate. We have analyzed the conjugate processes\r\nof mass-transfer/hydrate-layer-growth following our previous study on the hydrate crystal\r\ngrowth into liquid water saturated with a guest substance. A dimensionless parameter\r\nrepresenting the hydrate-layer growth rate is derived from the analysis. This analysis is\r\nbased on the idea that the growth rate is controlled by the mass transfer of the\r\nhydrate-guest substance, dissolved in the bulk of liquid water, to the front of the growing\r\nhydrate-layer along the guest/water interface. The variations in the hydrate-layer growth\r\nrate observed in the previous studies are related to the dimensionless parameter.
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