A new source of energy: methane hydrate
It reached +30°C (86.5°F) in the Arctic today. Hotter than pretty much all of Europe right now. Truly exceptional for any time of the year but mind-boggling for May. Velsky District (Russian: Ве?льский райо?н) now 33°C. The reason, a new source of energy: methane hydrate, a crystalline form of natural gas found in Arctic permafrost. At room temperature the crystal gives off intense heat, earning it the nickname of "fire in ice," and making the estimated 700,000 trillion cubic feet of the substance scattered around the world a potentially major fuel source, containing more energy than all previously discovered oil and gas combined.
Not only Russians do research. Last year, ConocoPhillips worked with the DOE on a test run-producing natural gas from methane hydrate in Alaska's North Slope, home to about 85 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable methane hydrate, according to DOE statistics. The company spent 13 days injecting carbon dioxide and nitrogen into methane-hydrate clusters in the permafrost. The chemical cocktail fractures the permafrost, allowing the gas to escape through the newly made fractures for collection.
No one even knew that hydrates existed in nature. Fossil fuel companies started injecting water, sand, and chemicals into shale rocks to split them apart and suck the natural gas out of the cracks. Soon they came to realize there is a ridiculous amount of the stuff. Unlike with fracking, no chemicals are involved with hydrate extraction: just methane and water. It's in the photo is a piece of methane hydrate found by U.S. scientists off the coast of Oregon. Of course, all of this is easier to do at normal temperatures, so we go back to the beginning of my post.
Na sjevernoj padini Aljaske ili u Sibiru lak?e je frakirati na normalnim temperaturama, kao ?to je u Lici lak?e saditi krumpire kad nema leda. Metan hidrati, prona?eni u permafrostu, imaju velik potencijal kao budu?i izvor energije. Konvencionalni proizvodni na?ini do sada su imali lo?e rezultate, ali onda su znanstvenici otkrili u?inkovit na?in proizvodnje kombiniranjem hidrauli?kog lomljenja iz vodoravnih bu?otina i cirkulacije vru?e vode kroz lomove. E sad, svima, ali ba? svima u industriji odgovara da se Sibir, Aljaska, pa i cijeli Arktik zagrije bar za 10 °C da je ekipi lak?e raditi i da tro?e manje love na opremu za frakiranje. Pojednostavljeno, princip je da se sve toplija i toplija voda pu?ta kroz pukotine da bi se do?lo do metan hidrata. Po?inje se s upumpavanjem vode u sediment od 10°C, pa se kroz nekoliko mjeseci di?e do 50°C, da bi na kraju, ako se ?eli ?to bolji rezultat i ?to vi?e metan hidrata izvu?i, voda zagrijava do to?ke vrenja. Za razliku od Antarktika, na Artiku ne va?e nikakva posebna pravila pa je sada gore Wild Wild North, svatko radi ?to ga volja. Dok se mi sjetimo i shvatimo ?to se doga?a, po Artiku ?e ve? tratin?ice rasti. Malo ?emo pri?ekati, ali nakon toga na red dolazi Antartika. Zeljko Serdar