China successfully extracted gas from 'flammable ice' and

it could lead to a new source of energy

China has succeeded in extracting methane gas from solid deposits under the
sea in an experiment that could eventually lead to the commercial production
of what is being touted as an abundant new source of energy.

In a first for the country, engineers extracted the gas from the so-called
flammable ice methane hydrate, where the gas is trapped in ice crystals
and converted it to natural gas in a single, continuous operation on a floating
production platform in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea, about 300km
southeast of Hong Kong, the Ministry of Land and Resources said on Thursday.

Methane hydrate is formed in such abundance that the US Department of

Energy has estimated the total amount could exceed the combined energy
content of all other fossil fuels, sparking interest in the resource worldwide.

The US, Canada and Japan have been leading research into it, and Japan said
earlier this month it had successfully produced natural gas from methane
hydrate off its Pacific coast and plans to conduct continuous production for
three to four weeks. Japans tests are being carried out on a ship, whereas
China is using a floating platform.

China was a latecomer to the methane hydrate scene, but has been catching
up fast since the discovery of promising reserves in the South China Sea in
2007. Earlier this year scientists built the nations first land-based drilling
platform on the Tibetan Plateau, where abundant methane is trapped under
the permafrost.

In the latest breakthrough, a bore head was lowered to extract the gas and
convert it to natural gas, according to video footage shown on China Central
Television.

We brought the gas to the surface and have lit it up since May 10. By now, the
drill has been running continually for eight days, Ye Jianliang, project leader
and deputy chief engineer at the China Geological Survey, told the broadcaster.

The daily output [of gas] exceeds 10,000 cubic metres. The best day recorded
35,000 cubic metres, Ye said.

Chen Yifeng, associate researcher with the Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea
Geology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Guangzhou, said the trial run
was different from previous operations by other countries because it followed
the procedures of commercial production.

China used a remote-controlled diving vessel named Sea Horse in its search for
methane hydrate reserves in the South China Sea.Handout via South China Morning Post
The technology and equipment they use is no longer for experimental
purposes. They mean business, she said.

But methane hydrate has its disadvantages, according to Chen. Unlike oil and
natural gas reserves which are usually concentrated in confined spaces, the
hydrates are often scattered over large areas on the sea floor, and extracting
them was like picking strawberries in a field.

A
methane hydrate block. The resource is being touted as a potential huge
energy source and several countries are looking into its
commercialisation.Handout via South China Morning Post
Also, unlike mineral ores, the ice cannot be taken straight out of the
water because it would disintegrate with the loss of pressure.
Sophisticated machinery and technology was required to depressurize or
melt it on the sea bed and channel the gas to the surface.
She also noted that one reason why some countries had put commercial
exploitation on hold was because of a fear of a massive escape of
methane, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, which could occur if
drilling machines destroyed the stability of a seabed.
Some researchers have speculated that methane hydrate had caused a
rapid buildup of pipeline pressure that led to the deadly explosion and
subsequent massive oil spill on BPs Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the
Gulf of Mexico seven years ago.
A mainland government energy researcher, who declined to be named,
doubted whether commercialisation could begin any time soon.
The government statement has not disclosed the cost, but at this stage,
to produce natural gas from combustible ice is likely to make no
economic sense, the researcher said.
China became the worlds first because no other country has the
motivation to do it while oil prices remain low.

China Just Extracted Gas From 'Flammable

Ice', And It Could Lead to a Brand New Energy
Source

For the first time, Chinese engineers have successfully extracted natural
gas from icy deposits beneath the South China Sea.
Just last year, China's government announced that geologists had found new
reserves of methane hydrate - also known as 'flammable ice' - and now it
looks like they've managed to harvest some of it, bringing the world a step
closer to harnessing this untapped energy source.
Methane hydrate is a fascinating substance that looks like ice, but actually
consists of methane trapped inside a lattice of water molecules. If you put a
match to it, it won't just melt - it will actually catch fire.
These solid gas deposits are found in places where low temperature and
moderate pressure combine to trap methane in this specific way, such as the
bottom of the ocean under hundreds of metres of water.
"If gas is present at sufficient concentrations beneath the seafloor within the
gas hydrate stability field, you'd expect it to be in the form of hydrates," New
Zealand-based geoscientist, Ingo Pecher from the University of Auckland, told
ScienceAlert.
But that stability field is easily disrupted if you change either pressure or
temperature, releasing all that trapped methane into the water. That's why
successfully extracting gas from methane hydrates is such a big deal for
engineers.
The gas deposits are densely packed - 1 cubic metre of methane hydrate can
release 164 cubic metres of natural gas if brought to the surface, making it a
valuable fuel resource.
US Department of Energy

Researchers think there could be immensely abundant gas hydrate reserves

all around the world, possibly exceeding all other fossil fuels combined. But
there's no single estimate on how much we're talking here, and not all those
reserves are practical.
"In low concentrations, they are quite common on continental margins," says
Pecher. "However, gas hydrate deposits that could be of commercial interest
are less common."
Yet there's certainly a great deal of commercial interest. These deposits only
started attracting attention in the late 70s, and so far, there's been little
success in extracting them from marine sediment.
Japan - a massive importer of energy - was the first to make a breakthrough
with their pioneering gas extraction from undersea flammable ice back in
2013.
But the test ran into problems almost immediately, and it was only earlier this
month that Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry was able to
announce another success.
A block of gas hydrate. Photo: Wusel007/Wikimedia

Now China has announced that their floating gas extraction platform in the
South China Sea has borne highly promising results, and not just for
experimental purposes, but for potential commercialisation.
Engineers drilled to the bottom of the sea and depressurised the hydrates
right there, bringing the gas to the surface. According to reports in Chinese
media, they managed to get as much as 35,000 cubic metres of gas a day.
"Compared with the results we have seen from Japanese research, the
Chinese scientists have managed to extract much more gas in their efforts,"
chemical engineer Praveen Linga from the National University of
Singapore told the BBC.
Countries such as US, Japan, China, India and South Korea have invested
hundreds of millions of dollars into exploring methane hydrates, but they've all
been slow-going in developing the most cost- and energy-efficient method of
extraction.
China's latest success is a promising step towards commercialisation of this
energy-intensive fuel source. But is it even worth it, considering natural gas is
still a fossil fuel, and those are on the way out?
Drilling to the bottom of the sea for flammable ice is not without risks.
Environmental impacts are still being investigated (after all, we've only done
few extractions so far), but there's potential for methane to escape into the
atmosphere if something goes wrong.
Methane is a super-potent greenhouse gas with up to 36 times more global
warming potential than carbon dioxide.
Just poking at these 'frozen' gas deposits won't necessarily release all that
stuff into the atmosphere or even into the oceans - gas hydrate extraction is
different from the climate change process that's causing permafrosts to
release methane.
But messing with methane deposits on the seafloor could also affect the local
ecology down there, and scientists are now looking into that, too.
Despite the potential risks, Ingo Pecher says he personally thinks it's a good
idea to develop methane hydrates as a fuel resource, because when we burn
gas, we produce fewer emissions.
"In order to reduce CO2 emissions starting now, not in 20 to 30 years, we
need to promote switching from coal to natural gas," he told ScienceAlert.
"Natural gas from hydrates may play a key role for such a switch in many
parts of the world."