Ice-Trapped Gas to Be Used as Fossil Fuel

Scientists are currently working on two fronts to discover a way of producing vast amounts of non-polluting electricity from special kinds of ice, which are readily available in many parts of the world. If the experts identify the correct types of the stuff, then they could literally burn it, to release the methane that is trapped inside. On the other hand, if a new technology scientists are working on proves to work, then methane could be extracted from ice pollution-free, without any harm to the environment.

On the outside, clathrate hydrate looks exactly like ice, but there's a major difference between the stuff you get from your freezer and this one. It's entirely made up of water molecules arranged in triangular shapes, with each formation containing a molecule of methane.

When it's burnt, the water molecules turn into gas, and thus release the trapped gas. But burning methane still produces carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas associated with global warming and climate change.

Now, thanks to a new method of extracting the natural gas presented this week at the meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), this problem may have been resolved, thus creating the first eco-friendly, zero-emission fossil fuel extraction process. Furthermore, it may be possible to actually store carbon dioxide in the hydrate, on account of the fact that the pyramid-shaped water molecules prefer this gas to methane.

Basically, the new extraction technique extracts methane and injects the water molecules with carbon dioxide at the same time, thus helping eliminate important quantities of the dangerous greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.

United States Geological Survey (USGS) expert Tim Collett said at the ACS meeting that, “Methane from hydrate could be a bridging fuel, to lead towards more renewable energies.” The scientist and his team proved that the process was feasible in the lab. They injected rock samples containing clathrate hydrate with carbon dioxide and managed to release methane, while at the same time trapping CO2.

According to USGS estimates, there are more than 10¹⁵ to 10¹⁷ cubic meters of hydrate-trapped methane around the world, a vast reserve of which most quantities should be recoverable. In order for the new method to exceed the performances of other extraction processes, it has to be more refined. That's why the USGS is currently working in Alaska with the ConocoPhillips oil company, for a filed test that will be focused on the new method.