The Hydrates in Science community at the Center for Hydrate Research is continuing its strong tradition of investigating the fundamentals of hydrate phenomena with the goal of applying the results to practical aims such as hydrogen storage, kinetic inhibition, and gas recovery.

The Center for Hydrate Research is using nuclear magnetic resonance and Raman spectroscopy, X-Ray diffraction, and molecular simulation to study the mechanism of hydrate formation and dissociation and the structure and guest occupancy of the hydrate cages.

The Colorado School of Mines recently acquired a 23 teraflop supercomputer, which will allow the ongoing molecular dynamics and monte carlo investigations of hydrate nucleation to proceed at a much faster rate. Elucidating the process of hydrate nucleation will allow greater discrimination in the selection of viable kinetic inhibitors.

As the Center for Hydrate Research pursues the basic science of hydrate phenomena, we have not lost sight of the practical aim of scientific research, and we continue to strive to improve the state of hydrogen storage, pipeline inhibition, and oil and gas recovery.