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News: According to a study by the Pune-based Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) of the Science & Technology Ministry, Krishna-Godavari(KG) basin holds a massive reserve of methane hydrate and a rich source of cleaner natural gas.
Facts:
- Methane: It is a clean and economical fuel and is a major constituent of natural gas.Compared to other hydrocarbon fuels, methane produces less carbon dioxide for each unit of heat released.
- Methane Hydrate: It is a solid clathrate compound in which a large amount of methane is trapped within a crystal structure of water forming a solid similar to ice.
- How Methane Hydrates are formed? It is formed when hydrogen bonded water and methane gas come into contact at high pressures and low temperatures in oceans.
- Significance of Methane Hydrate: It is estimated that one cubic meter of methane hydrate contains 160-180 cubic meters of methane.Hence, even the lowest estimate of methane present in the methane hydrates in the KG Basin is twice that of all fossil fuel reserves available worldwide.
