Fire in Ice: Harvesting Methane from Oceans and Permafrost

Authors: Claudia. J. Rawn

Venue: Smoky Mountain Chapter of the American Meteorological Society, University of Tennessee, January 26, 2009. http://www.ametsoc.org/chapters/smokymnt/.

Abstract: This presentation will provide an overview of methane hydrates and tackle questions like what they are, where do you find them, what do they look like, why study them, who studies them, and how are the researchers that study them are funded. Information about methane production from natural gas hydrates, plugging pipelines, stability and safety of drilling of platforms, as well as how dissociation of gas hydrates and sequestration of CO₂ within the host structure can impact global warming will be discussed. Lastly, the funded methane hydrates program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will be introduced.

Related NETL Project
This presentation is related to the NETL project FEAB111, “Hydration Formation and Dissociation via Depressurization in Simulated and Field Samples”. The results of physical property measurements will be made available to other researchers for integration with studies related to resource evaluation and mechanical modeling of seafloor sites relative to drilling in the offshore. It is anticipated that natural gas hydrate cores from ODP, and DOE sponsored cruises will provide core samples for analyses to compare with the synthetic samples used to develop the technology and instrumentation to understand the behavior of these unconventional gas reservoirs.

Project Contacts
NETL – John Terneus (John.Terneus@netl.doe.gov or 304-285-4254)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Tommy Joe Phelps (phelpstj@ornl.gov or 865-574-7290)