Abstract: The invention relates to a method for reducing or avoiding deposition of a hydrocarbon hydrate on a surface that is in contact with a hydrocarbon flow which contains water, the method comprising controlling the nucleation of dry hydrocarbon hydrate crystals in the flow. The invention further relates to a method for transporting a hydrocarbon flow which contains a hydrocarbon hydrate and to a method for preparing a dry hydrocarbon hydrate.

Abstract: A method for characterizing a suspension with particles floating therein, which method comprises the steps of generating an acoustic actuation signal and registering an acoustic reflected signal. Further, a first dataset is calculated on the basis of the reflected signal, the dataset containing information which represents an autocorrelation function as a function of time of the reflected signal. Thereupon, first datasets are combined into a second, cumulated dataset, which represents a sum of the autocorrelation functions which correspond with the first datasets. Finally, a representation of a particle size distribution is determined by solving this representation from an expression for the second, cumulated dataset in terms of the representation of a particle size distribution.