14 DAY TRIAL // Methane hydrates, also known as “flammable ice,” are back in the spotlight in the United States. Yesterday, the country's Department of Energy announced $5 million (€3.7 million) investments in seven research projects whose goal would be to determine whether or not these structures could be turned into an energy source.
In a press release on the matter at hand, the Department of Energy details that the scientists taking part in these investigations are to focus on figuring out how unlocking this energy source will affect the environment, the country's economy and its energy security.
What's more, the research projects are expected to shed new light on what the best ways to extract natural gas from methane hydrates are, and whether or not it would, financially- and environmentally-wise, make sense to implement such programs on a commercial scale.
“The recent boom in natural gas production - in part due to long-term Energy Department investments beginning in the 70’s and 80’s – has had a transformative impact on our energy landscape, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support thousands of American jobs,” explains Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.
“While our research into methane hydrates is still in its early stages, these investments will increase our understanding of this domestic resource and the potential to safely and sustainably unlock the natural gas held within,” he adds.
The $5 million will be split between scientists at the Georgia Tech Research Corporation, the University of Texas at Austin, the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, the Oregon State University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Washington and the University of Oregon.
This is not the first time when the United States decides to look into the possibility of using methane hydrates as an energy source. Thus, back in 2012, the country announced investments in 14 research projects not all that different from the seven new ones set to be carried out in the months to come.
“Methane hydrate – molecules of natural gas trapped in an ice-like cage of water molecules – represents a potentially vast methane resource for both the United States and the world,” reads a report published at that time.
Previous research has shown that methane hydrates can be found not just offshore, but also on land. Thus, their presence has been documented both in the Arctic permafrost and in ocean sediments.