ECS 310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Water Vapor, Orinoco, Tesla Model X
25 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
No agreed methodology for extracting gas from hydrates. Gas hydrates (gas clathrates)=part of an extensive family of crystalline solids that results from the freezing of a gas-water mixture. Methane=dominant molecule in natural gas; only one of a dozen molecules known to form clathrates with water. Methane hydrate includes four methane molecules and 23 water molecules. Methane hydrate=a naturally occurring substance with a definite crystal structure (definition of a mineral: not stable at room temperature or room pressure, so a lowered sea level or increased temperature would release methane gas. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas (stronger than co2) Extensive methane hydrate deposits: high latitudes on land, sediments with frozen water, permafrost, outer parts of the continental shelf at water depths from 2000 to 8000 feet contain methane tied up in subsea hydrates. Only commercial methane production from hydrates has come from the messoyakha field in north central siberia. Methane hydrate formation depends on low temperature, high pressures, and water.
