China commercializing gas production from flammable ice

China has tapped into cool future for the production of abundant new natural resource.

The country has made a successful attempt of extracting gas from ice-like substance named “flammable ice” which is methane hydrate- gas trapped into ice crystals.

In a first for the country, engineers have succeeded in extracting methane gas from solid deposits under the sea in an experiment that could eventually lead to the commercial production of what is being touted as an abundant new source of energy.

The natural gas was converted from methane in a single, continuous operation on a floating production platform in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea, about 300km southeast of Hong Kong.

Chinese authorities are aiming to commence commercial exploitation of the resource before 2030.

The US, Canada and Japan have also tapped into methane hydrate for natural gas as it is formed abundantly, more than the combined energy content of all other fossil fuels resulting into interest in the resource worldwide.

Despite being a latecomer to the technology, China has been catching up fast since the discovery of promising reserves in the South China Sea in 2007.

The process has several limitations as the methane hydrates are often scattered over large areas on the sea floor, and extracting them is like picking strawberries in a field.

Also, unlike mineral ores, the “ice” cannot be taken straight out of the water because it would disintegrate with the loss of pressure. Sophisticated machinery and technology is required to depressurize or melt it on the sea bed and channel the gas to the surface.

However, the countries have put commercial exploitation of this resource on hold because of a fear of a massive escape of methane, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, which could occur if drilling machines destroyed the stability of a seabed.