ABSTRACT CTS-9527420 E. Dendy Sloan Colorado School of Mines A new state-of-the-art for hydrate experiments is proposed by demonstrating measurements of the hydrate phase structure and composition, using Raman spectroscopy. The work will have two major impacts: 1. The hydrate structure is virtually never measured but predicted. There are multiple instances in which the incorrect hydrate structure has been predicted. With at least three common hydrate structures, the incorrect structure (and associated formation conditions) is predicted more frequently than commonly realized. We intend the proposed work to demonstrate how this problem may be corrected. 2. The hydrate phase composition (both the guest-to-host ratio and guest-to-guest composition) is also predicted rather than measured. However, such measurements are necessary to correct the existing thermodynamic model since hydrate formation conditions depend not only on structure but also on the phase composition.
