Patent ID: 8256519

Claim:
A system for producing a slurry of solid particles and production fluid from a subsea wellbore, comprising: a pump having an inlet and a discharge, the pump adapted to be located on a sea floor with the inlet connected to a well production fluid source and the discharge coupled to a subsea flow line for pumping production fluid; a bypass line that couples the discharge of the pump to the inlet of the pump for diverting at least a portion of the production fluid being discharged from the pump; a cooling unit disposed in the bypass line and adapted to cool the production fluid flowing through the bypass line to a temperature at which hydrates may precipitate from the production fluid to produce a slurry of hydrate particles and production fluid at the inlet of the pump; and a controller for controlling the portion of the fluid being diverted to the cooling unit in response to at least one characteristic of the slurry.