Andrew, Note that there have been proposals to displace the methane in hydrates with CO2 and thus store the CO2 as a hydrate - here is an example:
*http://www.pnas.org/content/103/34/12690.full*<http://www.pnas.org/content/103/34/12690.full> Chris. On Tuesday, 12 March 2013 11:10:09 UTC, andrewjlockley wrote: > Posters note: this development is significant to geoengineering, as it > opens the way to extract methane from unstable clathrates, which may > otherwise be released into the atmosphere by global warming. However, it > also significantly increases the available stock of carbon fuels. > > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21752441 > > Japan taps gas from methane hydrate > > Updated 24 minutes ago > > Japan says it has successfully extracted natural gas from frozen methane > hydrate off its central coast, in a world first. > > Methane hydrates, or clathrates, are a type of frozen "cage" of molecules > of methane and water. > > The gas field is about 50km away from Japan's main island, in the Nankai > Trough. > > Researchers say it could provide an alternative energy source for Japan > which imports all its energy needs. > > Other countries including Canada, the US and China have been looking into > ways of exploiting methane hydrate deposits as well. > > Pilot experiments in recent years, using methane hydrates found under land > ice, have shown that methane can be extracted from the deposits. > > Offshore deposits present a potentially enormous source of methane but > also some environmental concern, because the underwater geology containing > them is unstable in many places. > > "It is the world's first offshore experiment producing gas from methane > hydrate," an official from the economy, trade and industry ministry told > the AFP news agency. > > A survey of the gas field is being run by state-owned Japan Oil, Gas and > Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC). > > Engineers used a depressurisation method that turns methane hydrate into > methane gas. > > Production tests are expected to continue for about two weeks. > > Government officials have said that they aim to establish methane hydrate > production technologies for practical use within five years. > > A Japanese study estimated that at least 1.1tn cubic metres of methane > hydrate exist in offshore deposits. > > This is the equivalent of more than a decade of Japan's gas consumption. > > Japan has few natural resources and the cost of importing fuel has > increased after a backlash against nuclear power following the Fukushima > nuclear disaster two years ago. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
