What are methane hydrates?
Methane hydrate is normally associated with the term fiery ice because it has the same physical appearance as ice and when it comes into contact with open flame it begins to burn. It is an odd substance, as only water remains after burning. As illustrated in figure 1, methane hydrate occurs between sand particles underground. Methane is the main component of natural gas, and its development closely follows the procedure as natural gas (Unknown author, 2002). Natural gas has no smell and colour, but the sour odour that we do associate with gas is only for safety and leakage protection, which is done through a process of odourization. The process includes addition of multiple compounds, mixtures of t-butyl mercaptan,…show more content… Production of gas from methane hydrate:
Methane hydrate is found as a solid material, to extract only the methane gas we need to separate methane hydrate to methane gas and water. This procedure is known as methane hydrate production (Unknown author, 2002).
Even though methane is a solid, it cannot be mined as coal because it is situated deep in the ocean floor. To separate methane hydrate, which is stable under high pressure and low temperature, the reverse needs to be done to it. So, the procedure of reducing the pressure and increasing the temperature of layers containing methane hydrate is the technique used to produce methane gas. These two methods that are involved are known as the heating method and depressurization method. Figure 4 below indicates the stable zone of methane hydrate (Unknown author, 2002).
Figure 4: Methane hydrate stability zone curve (Unknown, 2002).
Uses of Natural Gas:
There are many ways to use natural gas, while in many homes it is used for cooking and heating, there are many other uses for natural gas. Natural gas can also be used to produce electricity, fuel for cars, to warm water, and run air