Hydrate Technology
Natural gas hydrates are crystalline mixtures of water and small hydrocarbons in which cavities of hydrogen bounded water enclathrates the hydrocarbons. Gas hydrate appears as ice-like solids consisting of water and gas; which in nature mostly is methane. Natural occcurences are found in conditions at high pressure and low temperature; e.e. in arctic tundra and beneath the deep ocean floors. The global amount of energy in the form of hydrate may amount to more than double the energy reserves in coal, oil and gas worldwide.
Conventional approaches for production of hydrate reservoirs are by pressure reduction or in combination with thermal stimulation. A more recent approach, which is now patented and on its way to commercial realization with guidance from BTO, is to expose the natural gas hydrate and it has been calculated and experimentally shown that CO2 hydrate is formed while methane gas is released. Thus, a win-win situation of simultaneous storage of CO2 with spontaneous release of natural gas is the result; with no net production of water and no macroscopic melting of the hydrate, keeping the rock formation inact.