Natural Gas Extraction From Frozen Methane Hydrate

By Nur Ezzah Binti Hanif (2010448594)

Before I begin, lets throw around some facts about the methane gas. We all know
that methane is a colorless, odorless gas and is the basic member of the alkane
family. What makes methane useful is that it can be utilized to produce energy.
Recently, geologists have discovered a special type of methane locked away in a
reserve so large that it could be the future of fossil fuel energy.

This new source of methane is known as methane hydrate, which is technically
a form of methane gas frozen in a cage like structure of ice. Methane hydrate
looks like densely packed snow, and if a lighted match is brought to it, it burns.
Conventional methane exists under rocks, in sediments beneath the Earths
surface. Methane hydrate, on the other hand, exists about 500 meters below the
oceans surface. The near-freezing temperatures and high pressure create a
condition in which the methane becomes encased in ice. The methane does not
bond chemically with water. As soon as the methane hydrate warms up to a
higher temperature, the ice melts away leaving behind pure methane.

To illustrate the abundance of this methane hydrate resource, lets have a look at
these facts and figures.
Total methane hydrate trapped in seafloor sediments are estimated at 20
quadrillion (20 x 10
15
) cubic meters.
Just 1% of the Earths methane hydrate deposits could yield enough
natural gas to feed Americas energy needs for 170,000 years.
It is estimated that the Earths total resource of methane hydrate is twice
the amount of Earths other fossil fuels combined.
Estimated natural gas reserves left on the planet = 368 trillion cubic
meters; Estimated methane hydrate reserves = 2,832 trillion to 8,495,054
trillion cubic meters.

Geologists have only recently discovered methane hydrate in Earths crust but
scientists have been aware of the existence of hydrates beginning from year
1810 by Humphrey Davy, a chemist, and his assistant, Michael Faraday. They
both worked with mixing chlorine with water and discovered that freezing this
mixture causes the chlorine to be encased in ice crystals.

In 1930, natural gas miners complained of ice crystals clogging pipelines that
were exposed to cold temperatures. Scientists soon found that it was not pure ice
but ice wrapped around methane. This condition caused nuisance for the
pipelines as no flow can occur in the freezing pipelines, so scientists quickly
found ways to prevent these hydrates from forming by the use of additives such
as methanol or monoethylene glycol.

By the 1960s, scientists discovered that methane hydrates existed naturally in
western Siberia. This was a major finding because it was the first sighting of
naturally occurring methane hydrate.

Much interest generated around these naturally occurring methane hydrates,
thus began the extensive research on the methane hydrate deposits from 1982
1992.

By the 1990s, Japan and India pioneered the methane hydrate research.

Last year (2013), Japan became the first nation to tap into a methane hydrate
resource in the Pacific Ocean about 80km off the coast of central Japan.

With such a great potential in the future for methane hydrates to replenish the
demand for natural gas, what are risks that go hand in hand with tapping into
this vast resource?
Mining companies and workers will have to drill up to 500 meters of
water and then another several hundred meters, as methane hydrate
deposits are located further underground.
Hydrates tend to form along shallow sloped of the seabed, almost toward
the abyss. The slope will make it difficult to run a pipeline.
Methane hydrate is unstable once it is removed from the high pressures
and low temperatures. Leaking can occur even before the methane can be
transported. The extraction can become redundant once the methane
escapes.
Scientists believe that methane hydrates stabilize the seabed. Disruption
in these methane hydrate deposits may cause underwater landslides,
which can lead to tsunamis.
Release of methane during the drilling of the frozen deposits may
contribute to the effect of greenhouse gases and worsen global warming.

Interesting ideas about how to extract the methane from hydrates efficiently are
also emerging. Some experts propose a technique in which miners pump hot
water down a drill hole to melt the hydrate and release the trapped methane. As
the methane escapes, it is pumped to the seafloor through a companion drill
hole. From there, submarine pipelines carry the natural gas ashore.
Unfortunately, such pipelines would need to travel over difficult underwater
terrain. One solution is to build a production facility on the seafloor so it is
situated near the hydrate deposits. As methane escapes from the heated
sediments, workers in the plant would refreeze the gas to form "clean" methane
hydrate. Submarines would then tow the frozen fuel in huge storage tanks to
shallower waters, where the methane could be extracted and transported safely
and efficiently.