EXPLOITATION OF GAS HYDRATES AS AN ENERGY RESOURCE

Submitted to:Dept. of Environment & Biotechnology

Submitted by:Madhvi Rana M.Tech(Env.)

HISTORY.

Sir Humphrey Davy discovered in 1811, that gas could be hydrated, when he observed that under certain conditions, water and chlorine form a crystalline substance -chlorine hydrate Until the beginning of the 1930's, gas hydrates were looked upon solely as a scientific curiosity, for which there appeared to be no practical use. Gas hydrates caught the attention of industry when it was realized that the long distance oil and gas transmission pipelines in the USA were being clogged by formation of gas hydrates within the pipelines

In 1934, Hammer schmidt recognized gas hydrates as the reason of the plugging problems in gas pipelines and gas hydrates were started to be considered as undesirable substances, which occur during oil and gas production and transportation activities.
Finally, it was discovered that gas hydrates also exist in nature, in both deep oceans and permafrost regions. Now a days gas hydrates are considered as both useful and hazardous with different ways of consideration.

1 M3 OF GAS HYDRATE (90% SITE OCCUPIED) = 163 M3 OF GAS + 0.87 M3 WATER

Crystalline solid consisting of gas molecules, usually methane, each surrounded by a cage of water molecules. There are many gases which are suitable to form hydrates, including carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, many low-carbon-number hydrocarbons, but most marine gas hydrates contain methane.

Biogenic Hydrate

Thermogenic Hydrate

Microbial activity in the upper several hundred meters of deep-sea sediment (about 99%)

Thermal breakdown of organic material at greater depths

 They form as the cement in pore spaces and in layers and

nodules of pure hydrate. They also have the capacity to fill sediment pore space and reduce permeability, which acts as a seal for gas traps.

Biogenic methane hydrates are found in marine sediments are formed when bacteria generate methane from breaking down organic matter in low oxygen environments. These bacteria are usually found at pressures greater than 1000 atmospheres and depths between 300-400 meters to 2500 meters. Thermogenic methane hydrates are formed by the thermal breakdown of organic matter at greater depths, releasing methane. The gas percolates up through the sediments until it reaches a zone where the combination of pressure and temperatures favor the formation of hydrates.

Gas Hydrates form at low temperatures and high pressures.

STRUCTURES

There exist five cavity structures (or polyhedral) that form the hydrate structure.

The cavity structures are combined together to form 3 different hydrate structures, namely Structure I, Structure II and Structure H hydrates. Structure type determines gas type. Structure I Gas Hydrate Crystal - Cubic Lattice Can hold only small molecules (5.2 angstroms or less) such as ethane(C2H6) and methane(CH4) Biogenic in origin

Structure II Gas Hydrate Crystal-Diamond Lattice May contain larger molecules (5.9-6.9 angstroms) such as propane(C3H8) or isobutane(C4H10) Thermogenic in origin. Structure H Gas Hydrate Crystal - Hexagonal Lattice Rare Able to hold much larger molecules such as iso-pentane.

Structure-II

Structure-H

POTENTIAL LOCATIONS..
o

Methane hydrate occurs in a zone referred to as the hydrate stability zone. The zone lies roughly parallel to the land or seafloor surface. Permafrost regions depths about 150 - 2000 m below the surface. In oceanic sediment ocean is at least 300 m deep, depths of 0 - 1,100 m below the seafloor.

Found in 4 major location types:

Subduction zones (e.g., Nankai Trough Japan, Cascadia Basin) Passive Margins (e.g., Blake Ridge on the southeast cost of the US) Off-shore hydrocarbon (e.g., Gulf of Mexico, North Slope Alaska) On-shore Arctic Permafrost (e.g., Mackenzie Delta, Arctic Russia, Arctic Alaska)

Potential locations in India: Mahanadi Basins in East Coast, Kerala-Konkan basin in the west coast Andaman offshore

INDICATORS OF GAS-HYDRATES IN SEDIMENTS

Bottom Simulating Reflections [BSR] Amplitude blanking Velocity inversion Chlorinate anomalies in pore water Sediment grain size parameter Benthic biomass Gas escape features on the sea floor

GLOBAL CARBON DISTRIBUTION

RECOVERY OF GASES FROM GAS HYDRATES

1.

2.

3.

DEPRESSURISATION: At fixed temperature, operating at pressures below hydrate formation pressure. INHIBITION: Inhibition of the hydrate formation conditions by using chemicals such as methanol and salts. HEAT SUPPLY: At fixed pressure, operating at temperatures above the hydrate formation temperature. This can be achieved by insulation or heating of the equipment.

A PROPOSED METHOD

For the gas production from hydrates and the seabed stability after the production, there is a molecular mining method by means of CO2 injection in order to extract CH4 from gas hydrate reservoirs. The concept is composed of three steps as; 1) injection of hot sea water into the hydrate layer to dissociate the hydrates, 2) produce gas from the hydrate, 3) inject CO2 to form carbon dioxide hydrate with residual water to hold the sea bed stable

GAS-HYDRATES AS A FUEL

The gas is held in crystal structure, therefore gas molecules are more densely packed than in conventional or other nonconventional resources. Production of gas from hydrate-sealed traps may be an easy way to extract gas , because the reduction of pressure caused by production can initiate a breakdown of hydrates and a recharging of trap with gas. Amount of conventional fossil fuels will decline in next century. Redirect/dispose of greenhouse methane away from the atmosphere. Cleaner fuel source than oil, coal, and oil shale. Electricity generation.

CHALLENGES OF HYDRATE UTILIZATION AS A FUEL SOURCE

Impact on global climate :-Methane hydrates are located in the shallow submarine geo-sphere, which is a finely balanced system in equilibrium with all its components such as sediment, pore-water, fluid flows, pressure, temperature, overlying water, hydrate etc. Impact on geological environment:- Submarine sediment slumping or sliding occurs when huge piles of unstable sediments build up and may lead to the decomposition of gas hydrates and the resulting expansion or release of gas. Hazards of drilling:-challenging task because of the characteristics of the hydrates especially, its unstable nature with change in pressure temperature conditions. Hydrates may dissociate during the process of drilling and initiate a process of uncontrolled gas release and site subsidence. High costs of long pipelines. Damage to sensitive chemosynthetic communities.

VARIOUS ISSUES RELATED TO EXTRACTION

OF GAS HYDRATES

RECENT INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMES WITH SIGNIFICANT U.S COLLABORATION

USA has suggested in 2000 that $47.5 million be used to explore the option of gas hydrates over a five year period. Canada Successful 2008 Arctic production test at limited scale. Japan Extensive drilling programs. Moving forward with plans for production test by 2011. India Extensive 2006 drilling program China Initiated drilling program in 2007. S. Korea Initiated drilling program in 2007

REFERENCES

[1] Sloan, E. D. Jr.: Clathrate Hydrates of Natural Gases, Marcel Dekker, Inc.,New York (1990), 641 pp. [2] Makogon, Y. F.: Hydrates of Hydrocarbons, Pennwell Books, Tulsa (1997), 482 pp. [3] Sloan, E. D. Jr.: Natural Gas Hydrates, JPT (December 1991), SPE

Technology Today Series, SPE 23562, 1414-1417.

[4] Sloan, E. D. Jr.: Fundamental Principles and Applications of Natural Gas Hydrates, Nature (2003), Vol. 426, 353-359.

[5] Haq, B. U.: Climatic Impact of Natural Gas Hydrate, in Natural Gas
Hydrate- in Ocenic and Permafrost Environments, D. M. Max, ed., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands (2003), 137-148

[6] Kvenvolden, K. A.: Natural Gas Hydrate: Background and History of Discovery, in Natural Gas Hydrate- in Ocenic and Permafrost Environments, D. M. Max, ed., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands (2003), 9-16. [7] Gudmundsson, J. S., Parlaktuna M. and Khokhar, A.A.: Storage of Natural Gas as Frozen Hydrate, SPE Production and Facilities, (February 1994), 6973. [8] Shirota, H. et al.: Measurement of Methane Hydrate Dissociation for Application to Natural Gas Storage and Transportation, Proc. 4th Int.Conf. Gas Hydrates (2002). [9] Ripmeester, A. J. et al. : A New Clathrate Hydrate Structure, Nature (January 1987), Vol. 325, 135-136. [10] Khokhar, A. A., Gudmundsson, J. S. and Sloan E. D.: Gas Storage in Structure H Hydrates, Fluid Phase Equilibria (1998), 150-151, 383-392.

 In science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not the man to whom the idea the idea first occurs THANKS