IIT Madras team produces gas hydrates under ‘space’ conditions

IIT Madras team produces gas hydrates under ‘space’ conditions

News:

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras produces gas hydrates under space conditions.

Important Facts:

• Experiment has shown that methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) can exist as gas hydrates at temperatures and pressures seen in interstellar atmosphere.
• In terrestrial conditions, gas hydrates are formed naturally under the sea bed and glaciers under high pressure, low temperature conditions.

What are Gas Hydrates:

• The term “gas hydrates” refers to crystalline compounds that are composed of water and any of the following light molecules: methane, ethane, propane, iso-butane, normal butane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide etc.
• Hydrate formation usually occurs when water molecule exists in the vicinity of these molecules at temperatures above or below the ice point and relatively high pressure. The water molecules enclose these host molecules and form cage-like structures which are stable at these conditions.
• Hydrates are usually stable at moderate temperatures and pressures when compared to the conditions required for LNG and CNG.

Applications

• Methane hydrate is a potential source of natural gas
• CO2 storage in hydrates within the seafloor or in old petroleum wells offer a stable and long term means for carbon capture.
• In particular, under appropriate conditions (typically <10°C and with hydrostatic heads >400 m) CO2 hydrate becomes stable, and this could help immobilize CO2.
• CO2 hydrate is thermodynamically more stable than methane hydrate. So if methane hydrate has remained stable for millions of years under the sea bed, it would be possible to sequester gaseous CO2 as solid hydrate under the sea bed.

Gas Hydrate Decomposition

• Natural gas hydrate is widely distributed in oceans and polar regions, and its gas resources are 10 times more than global conventional gas reserves and twice the total carbon content in all the coal, petroleum, and natural gas in the world.