The reformation of methane-ethane hydrate was observed in situ using 13C MAS NMR spectroscopy. In all reformation experiments, structure I (stable state for the reformation conditions) reformed, and the hydrate cage occupancy ratios were found to be almost the same as those predicted by a statistical thermodynamics program CSMGem, suggesting that there is no preferential formation of large or small cages on the relatively long time scale of this NMR experiment. It was also found that the reformation rate of the sample with PVCap is several times faster compared with the pure system, indicating that the presence of PVCap promotes the hydrate reformation at a high subcooling though this chemical is well-known as a good hydrate inhibitor.

The inter-conversion of methane-ethane hydrate from metastable to stable structures was studied using Raman spectroscopy. To investigate factors controlling the inter-conversion, the rate of structural transition was measured at 59% and 93% methane in ethane. The observed slower structural conversion rate in the lower methane concentration atmosphere can be explained in terms of the differences in kinetics (mass transfer of gas and water rearrangement). Also, the effect of kinetic hydrate inhibitors, poly-N-vinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyethylene-oxide (PEO), on the hydrate metastability was investigated at 65% and 93% methane in ethane. PVP increased the conversion rate at 65% methane in ethane (sI is thermodynamically stable), but retarded the rate at 93% methane in ethane (sII is thermodynamically stable), indicating that the function of PVP depends on hydrate structure. PEO did not affect the structural transition considerably for either methane-ethane compositions.