Natural gas hydrates are seen as an alternative future energy source. They have also been valued for their carbon dioxide capturing capability, gas separation, desalination, natural gas storage and transportation. Developing economical and viable gas hydrate based technology is one of the most promising research areas of present decade. Successful commercialization of gas hydrate based technology is often curtailed due to slow formation rate. The present study evaluates biosurfactant as a kinetic promoter of methane hydrates formation in a fixed bed C type silica gel medium. Biosurfactant was produced by growing Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain A11 in glycerol supplemented mineral salt medium. Biosurfactant characterization with FTIR, NMR and MALDI-TOF spectroscopy reveled it to be a glycolipids type biosurfactant namely rhamnolipids. Saturating C type silica gel with of 100 ppm rhamnolipids solution enhanced the rate of methane hydrates formation by reducing the induction time. Mole of methane consumed and percentage of water to hydrate conversion was observed to be more in 1000 ppm rhamnolipids saturated C type silica gel as compared to quiescent water system and water saturated silica gel system. Overall results suggest that rhamonolipids produced by strain A11 in combination with silica gel can be utilized as environmentally safe kinetic promoter for methane hydrate formation.

天然气水合物被视为未来的替代能源。它们还因其二氧化碳捕获能力，气体分离，脱盐，天然气储存和运输而受到重视。发展基于经济和可行的天然气水合物的技术是当前十年最有前途的研究领域之一。基于天然气水合物的技术的成功商业化通常由于形成速度慢而受到限制。本研究评估生物表面活性剂作为固定床C型硅胶介质中甲烷水合物形成的动力学促进剂。通过生产铜绿假单胞菌生产生物表面活性剂甘油补充的矿物盐培养基中的菌株A11。用FTIR，NMR和MALDI-TOF光谱对生物表面活性剂进行表征，表明它是糖脂类生物表面活性剂，即鼠李糖脂。用100 ppm鼠李糖脂溶液饱和C型硅胶可通过减少诱导时间来提高甲烷水合物的形成速率。与静态水系统和水饱和硅胶系统相比，在1000 ppm鼠李糖脂饱和C型硅胶中观察到的甲烷消耗摩尔和水与水合物转化的百分比更高。总体结果表明，菌株A11与硅胶结合产生的鼠李糖脂可作为环境安全的动力学促进剂用于甲烷水合物的形成。