Fundamental mechanisms and phenomena of clathrate hydrate nucleation

Insights into the mechanism of hydrate nucleation are of great significance for the development of hydrate-based technologies, hydrate relevant flow assurance, and the exploration of in situ natural gas hydrates. Compared with the thermodynamics of hydrate formation, understanding the nucleation mechanism is challenging and has drawn substantial attention in recent decades. In this paper, we attempt to give a comprehensive review of the recent progress of studies of clathrate hydrate nucleation. First, the existing hypotheses on the hydrate nucleation mechanism are introduced and discussed. Then, we summarize recent experimental studies on induction time, a key parameter evaluating the velocity of the nucleation process. Subsequently, the memory effect is particularly discussed, followed by the suggestion of several promising research perspectives.