Patent ID: 6232273
Filing Date: 2001-05-15
Classification: B01F,C08F,C09K,C10L,Y10S

Abstract:
A method of inhibiting the formation of clathrate hydrates, which comprises adding a clathrate hydrate inhibitor to a system capable of forming clathrate hydrates, which clathrate hydrate inhibitor comprises a macromolecular compound (I) comprising a structural unit (1) of the following general formula (2) in the molecule: ##STR19##where R.sub.1, R.sub.2, and R.sub.3 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 or 2 carbon atoms,Sp' represents a functional group comprising one or more functional groups selected from linear or branched alkyl groups having from 1 to 24 carbon atoms in which one or more hydrogen atoms may be replaced by halogen atoms or hydroxyl groups, carbonyl, ester, carbonate, thioester, amide, urethane, or carbonyl-group containing functional groups which may include the carbonyl group adjacent to Sp' on the macromolecular main chain side of Sp', or nitrogen containing functional groups in which the hydrogen on the nitrogen atom may be replaced by an alkyl group having 1 or 2 carbon atoms, ether, thioether, urea or imine,X represents a nitrogen-containing 3-15 membered ring group, anda represents an integer of 1 or more.