Effect of pressure on the carbon dioxide hydrate-water interfacial free energy along its dissociation line

Abstract

We investigate the effect of pressure on the carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrate-water interfacial free energy along its dissociation line using advanced computer simulation techniques. In previous works, we have determined the interfacial energy of the hydrate at 400 bars using the TIP4P/Ice and TraPPE molecular models for water and CO2, respectively, in combination with two different extensions of the Mold Integration technique [J. Colloid Interface Sci. 623, 354 (2022) and J. Chem. Phys. 157, 134709 (2022)]. Results obtained from computer simulation, 29(2) and 30(2) mJ/m2, are found to be in excellent agreement with the only two measurements that exist in the literature, 28(6) mJ/m2 determined by Uchida et al. [J. Phys. Chem. B 106, 8202 (2002)] and 30(3) mJ/m2 determined by Anderson et al. [J. Phys. Chem. B 107, 3507 (2002)]. Since the experiments do not allow to obtain the variation of the interfacial energy along the dissociation line of the hydrate, we extend our previous studies to quantify the effect of pressure on the interfacial energy at different pressures. Our results suggest that there exists a correlation between the interfacial free energy values and the pressure, i.e., it decreases with the pressure between 100 and 1000 bars. We expect that the combination of reliable molecular models and advanced simulation techniques could help to improve our knowledge of the thermodynamic parameters that control the interfacial free energy of hydrates from a molecular perspective.