Methane clathrate (CH4·5.75H2O) or (4CH4·23H2O), also called methane hydrate, hydromethane, methane ice, fire ice, natural gas hydrate, or gas hydrate, is a solid clathrate compound (more specifically, a clathrate hydrate) in which a large amount of methane is trapped within a crystal structure of water, forming a solid similar to ice. Originally thought to occur only in the outer regions of the Solar System, where temperatures are low and water ice is common, significant deposits of methane clathrate have been found under sediments on the ocean floors of the Earth (approx. 1100m below the sea level). Methane hydrate is formed when hydrogen-bonded water and methane gas come into contact at high pressures and low temperatures in oceans.
Clathrate hydrates, or gas hydrates, clathrates, or hydrates, are crystalline water-based solids physically resembling ice, in which small non-polar molecules or polar molecules with large hydrophobic moieties are trapped inside "cages" of hydrogen bonded, frozen water molecules. In other words, clathrate hydrates are clathrate compounds in which the host molecule is water and the guest molecule is typically a gas or liquid. Without the support of the trapped molecules, the lattice structure of hydrate clathrates would collapse into conventional ice crystal structure or liquid water. Most low molecular weight gases, including O2, H2, N2, CO2, CH4, H2S, Ar, Kr, Xe, and Cl2 as well as some higher hydrocarbons and freons, will form hydrates at suitable temperatures and pressures. Clathrate hydrates are not officially chemical compounds, as the enclathrated guest molecules are never bonded to the lattice. The formation and decomposition of clathrate hydrates are first order phase transitions, not chemical reactions. Their detailed formation and decomposition mechanisms on a molecular level are still not well understood. Clathrate hydrates were first documented in 1810 by Sir Humphry Davy who found that water was a primary component of what was earlier thought to be solidified chlorine.
Alternative fuels, also known as non-conventional and advanced fuels, are fuels derived from sources other than petroleum. Alternative fuels include gaseous fossil fuels like propane, natural gas, methane, and ammonia; biofuels like biodiesel, bioalcohol, and refuse-derived fuel; and other renewable fuels like hydrogen and electricity.
A clathrate is a chemical substance consisting of a lattice that traps or contains molecules. The word clathrate is derived from the Latin clathratus, meaning 'with bars, latticed'. Most clathrate compounds are polymeric and completely envelop the guest molecule, but in modern usage clathrates also include host–guest complexes and inclusion compounds. According to IUPAC, clathrates are inclusion compounds "in which the guest molecule is in a cage formed by the host molecule or by a lattice of host molecules." The term refers to many molecular hosts, including calixarenes and cyclodextrins and even some inorganic polymers such as zeolites.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process in which a relatively pure stream of carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial sources is separated, treated and transported to a long-term storage location. In CCS, the CO2 is captured from a large point source, such as a chemical plant, coal power plant, cement kiln, or bioenergy plant, and typically is stored in a suitable geological formation.
Renewable natural gas (RNG), also known as biomethane, is a renewable fuel and biogas which has been upgraded to a quality similar to fossil natural gas and has a methane concentration of 90% or greater. By removing CO2 and other impurities from biogas, and increasing the concentration of methane to a level similar to fossil natural gas, it becomes possible to distribute RNG via existing gas pipeline infrastructure. RNG can be used in existing appliances, including vehicles with natural gas burning engines (natural gas vehicles).
The clathrate gun hypothesis is a proposed explanation for the periods of rapid warming during the Quaternary. The hypothesis is that changes in fluxes in upper intermediate waters in the ocean caused temperature fluctuations that alternately accumulated and occasionally released methane clathrate on upper continental slopes. This would have had an immediate impact on the global temperature, as methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Despite its atmospheric lifetime of around 12 years, methane's global warming potential is 72 times greater than that of carbon dioxide over 20 years, and 25 times over 100 years. It is further proposed that these warming events caused the Bond Cycles and individual interstadial events, such as the Dansgaard–Oeschger interstadials.
Several methods exist for storing hydrogen. These include mechanical approaches such as using high pressures and low temperatures, or employing chemical compounds that release H2 upon demand. While large amounts of hydrogen are produced by various industries, it is mostly consumed at the site of production, notably for the synthesis of ammonia. For many years hydrogen has been stored as compressed gas or cryogenic liquid, and transported as such in cylinders, tubes, and cryogenic tanks for use in industry or as propellant in space programs. The overarching challenge is the very low boiling point of H2: it boils around 20.268 K (−252.882 °C or −423.188 °F). Achieving such low temperatures requires expending significant energy.
Carbon dioxide hydrate or carbon dioxide clathrate is a snow-like crystalline substance composed of water ice and carbon dioxide. It normally is a Type I gas clathrate. There has also been some experimental evidence for the development of a metastable Type II phase at a temperature near the ice melting point. The clathrate can exist below 283K (10 °C) at a range of pressures of carbon dioxide. CO2 hydrates are widely studied around the world due to their promising prospects of carbon dioxide capture from flue gas and fuel gas streams relevant to post-combustion and pre-combustion capture. It is also quite likely to be important on Mars due to the presence of carbon dioxide and ice at low temperatures.
Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is a technological process typically employing a dual fluidized bed system. CLC operated with an interconnected moving bed with a fluidized bed system, has also been employed as a technology process. In CLC, a metal oxide is employed as a bed material providing the oxygen for combustion in the fuel reactor. The reduced metal is then transferred to the second bed and re-oxidized before being reintroduced back to the fuel reactor completing the loop. Fig 1 shows a simplified diagram of the CLC process. Fig 2 shows an example of a dual fluidized bed circulating reactor system and a moving bed-fluidized bed circulating reactor system.
100% renewable energy is the goal of the use renewable resources for all energy. 100% renewable energy for electricity, heating, cooling and transport is motivated by climate change, pollution and other environmental issues, as well as economic and energy security concerns. Shifting the total global primary energy supply to renewable sources requires a transition of the energy system, since most of today's energy is derived from non-renewable fossil fuels.
Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula CH4. It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes it an economically attractive fuel, although capturing and storing it is hard because it is a gas at standard temperature and pressure.
A hydrogen clathrate is a clathrate containing hydrogen in a water lattice. This substance is interesting due to its possible use to store hydrogen in a hydrogen economy. A recent review that accounts the state-of-the-art and future prospects and challenges of hydrogen storage as clathrate hydrates is reported by Veluswamy et al. (2014). Another unusual characteristic is that multiple hydrogen molecules can occur at each cage site in the ice, one of only a very few guest molecule that forms clathrates with this property. The maximum ratio of hydrogen to water is 6 H2 to 17 H2O. It can be formed at 250K in a diamond anvil at a pressure of 300MPa (3000 Bars). It takes about 30 minutes to form, so this method is impractical for rapid manufacture. The percent of weight of hydrogen is 3.77%. The cage compartments are hexakaidecahedral and hold from two to four molecules of hydrogen. At temperatures above 160K the molecules rotate around inside the cage. Below 120K the molecules stop racing around the cage, and below 50K are locked into a fixed position. This was determined with deuterium in a neutron scattering experiment.
Carbon-neutral fuel is fuel which produces no net-greenhouse gas emissions or carbon footprint. In practice, this usually means fuels that are made using carbon dioxide (CO2) as a feedstock. Proposed carbon-neutral fuels can broadly be grouped into synthetic fuels, which are made by chemically hydrogenating carbon dioxide, and biofuels, which are produced using natural CO2-consuming processes like photosynthesis.
Power-to-gas is a technology that uses electric power to produce a gaseous fuel. When using surplus power from wind generation, the concept is sometimes called windgas.
Rakesh Agrawal is the Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He is a chemical engineer known for contributions to separations, cryogenic gas separation and liquefaction, and for contributions to renewable energy including the conversion of biomass to chemicals and fuels, inorganic solar cell fabrication, and the synergistic use of solar energy.
Nitrogen clathrate or nitrogen hydrate is a clathrate consisting of ice with regular crystalline cavities that contain nitrogen molecules. Nitrogen clathrate is a variety of air hydrates. It occurs naturally in ice caps on Earth, and is believed to be important in the outer Solar System on moons such as Titan and Triton which have a cold nitrogen atmosphere.
Direct deep-sea carbon dioxide injection was a (now abandoned) technology proposal with the aim to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by direct injection into the deep ocean to store it there for centuries. At the ocean bottom, the pressures would be great enough for CO2 to be in its liquid phase. The idea behind ocean injection was to have stable, stationary pools of CO2 at the ocean floor. The ocean could potentially hold over a thousand billion tons of CO2. However, the interest in this avenue of carbon storage has much reduced since about 2001 because of concerns about the unknown impacts on marine life, high costs and concerns about its stability or permanence.
Direct air capture (DAC) is the use of chemical or physical processes to extract carbon dioxide directly from the ambient air. If the extracted CO2 is then sequestered in safe long-term storage, the overall process will achieve carbon dioxide removal and be a "negative emissions technology" (NET).
Rajnish Kumar is an Indian chemical engineer who specialises in clathrate hydrates and gas hydrates. He is a professor in the department of chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in 2022.
