Methane Clathrates in the news
Here is the Wikipedia entry for
Methane Clathrate
Fairly common offshore - we have some large deposits off our coast in the Pacific Northwest and there is a lot offshore Mexico.
What isn't common is using these deposits as a source of energy.
German newspaper
Der Spiegel has some interesting news:
China and India Exploit Icy Energy Reserves
China and India have reported massive finds of frozen methane gas off their coasts, which they hope will satisfy their energy needs. But environmentalists fear that tapping these resources could have adverse effects on the world climate.
On the surface, it looked like any other drill core from the ocean floor. Its shimmering grayish-green surface was both slippery and grainy at the same time. But the sample only revealed its exciting secret when the geologists on board the "Bavenit," a drilling ship, lowered the pressure in the steel tube and held a lit match to the upper end. Suddenly a yellowish-red flame began licking from the slick material.
"As astonishing phenomenon," noted the scientists from the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey. So astonishing, in fact, that when their ship pulled into the harbor at Shenzen on June 12 of this year, the scientists were all smiles.
Shengxiong Yang and Nengyou Wu, the two expedition leaders, stand an excellent chance of going down in the history of their country as heroes. The material they pulled from the muddy ocean floor of the South China Sea has the potential to satisfy the energy needs of China and its fast-growing economy.
The flames in the drill core were coming from methane hydrate, a material first discovered in the 1970s. Its unique characteristic is that it is a seemingly frozen and yet flammable material.
In the West, this potential fuel from the ocean floor has for the most part been the stuff of fantasy. But it's a different story in Asia. The People's Republic of China is investing millions to study this massive source of energy. The same holds true for India, South Korea and Taiwan, all nations that are on a fast track to surpassing the West as economic powers.
The article goes into a few of the proposed ways to extract the Methane and then veers off into la-la land by quoting some doom and gloom people who worry about Methane being such a bad greenhouse gas and how these clathrates should be used for CO2 sequestration.
I would love to find a place to sequester all the AGW ninnies - their braying is getting on my nerves...
Posted by DaveH at December 14, 2007 7:54 PM