There are at least three means by which commercial production of natural gas hydrates might eventually be achieved, all of which alter the thermodynamic con­ditions in the hydrate stability zone such that the gas hydrate decomposes. The first method is depressurization. Production is based on the depressuriza­tion-induced dissociation of the hydrates. Depressurization takes place in […]

5.1 Introduction The gases in the natural gas hydrate sediment are primarily methane molecules (Kvenvolden 1995). Methane hydrates are considered a major potential source of hydrocarbon energy and could be important in meeting natural gas demand in the future (Chi et al. 2006). Natural gas hydrates are a vast potential, though not pres­ently commercial, source […]

Seawater is a mixture of 96.5% pure water and 3.5% other material, such as salts, dissolved gases, organic substances, and undissolved particles. The physical char­acteristics of seawater are determined by the physical properties, which are tem­perature, salinity, density, transparency, and ability to transmit light and sound. The most important physical factors for marine organisms are […]

Researchers have identified a need to better understand how the geological fea­tures in the permafrost regions and on continental margins control the occurrence and formation of methane hydrates. They have underscored the need to understand fundamental aspects (porosity, permeability, reservoir temperatures) of the geo­logical framework that hosts the gas hydrate resource to improve assessment and […]

In situations where natural gas and associated gas contain a lot of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide, hydrate technology can potentially be used to sepa­rate these gases from the source gas. This is because gas hydrates are thermody­namic equilibrium products. Mass transfer operations can be designed to carry out the separation and cleaning processes. […]

Scientists are researching specific concerns about methane hydrate recovery and use which include drilling safety issues, potential influences on global climate change as methane is a potent greenhouse gas and the natural release of vast quan­tities from hydrate deposits would affect the global carbon cycle, cost-effective transportation of the gas to the surface, and the […]

Under suitable conditions of low temperature and high pressure, a gas molecule will react with water to form hydrates according to G + AHH2O = GAH H2O, where G is a gas molecule and AH is the hydration number. Of particular inter­est are hydrates formed by hydrocarbon gases when the gas molecule is an alkane, […]

Methane hydrates are common in sediments deposited on high-latitude continental shelves and at the slope and rise of continental margins with high bioproductivity (Kvenvolden 1988b). High biological production provides the organic matter bur­ied in the sediment, which, during early diagenesis and after exhausting oxygen, sulfate, and other electron acceptors, eventually generates methane through fermen­tative decomposition […]