Source: BBC.UKArticle by Martha Henriques23 November 2018Why 'flammable ice' could be the future of energyLast year, Japan succeeded in extracting anuntapped fuel from its ocean floor - methanehydrate, or flammable ice. Proponents argue thatit will offset energy crises, but what are theenvironmental risks?By Martha Henriques23November 2018 Future Now The Economicsof ChangeBuried below the seabed around Japan,there are beds of methane, trapped in molecularcages of ice. In some places, the sediment coveringthese deposits of frozen water and methane hasbeen eroded away, leaving whitish mounts of whatlooks like dirty ice rearing up out of the seafloor.Put a match to this sea ice and it doesn't just melt,it ignitesTake a chunk of this stuff up to the surfaceand it looks and feels much like ice, except for agive-away fizzing sensation in the palm of your hand,but put a match to it and it doesn't just melt, it ignites.Large international research programmes andcompanies in Japan, among other countries, areracing to retrieve this strange, counter-intuitivesubstance - known as fiery ice - from beneath theseafloor to use its methane for fuel.If all goes to plan, they may even start extractionby the end of the next decade. But the journeyso far has been far from smooth.(Credit: USDepartment of Energy)Could this humblematerial solve future energy crises? (Credit: USDepartment of Energy) There's no doubt that methane hydrates could offer a majorsource of fuel, with recent estimates suggestingthey constitute about a third of the total carbonheld in other fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.Several nations, notably Japan, want to extract it.It is not hard to find, often leaving a characteristicseismic signature that can be detected by researchvessels. The problem is retrieving that gas andbringing it to the surface."One thing that's clear isthat we're never going to go down and mine theseice-like deposits," says Carolyn Ruppel, who leadsthe US Geological Survey's Gas Hydrates Project.If you like this, you may also enjoy:A samuraiswordsmith is designing spaceprobesHow China'ssolar farms are transforming world energyHow todrink from the enormous lakes in the airIt allcomes down to physics. Methane hydrates aresimply too sensitive to pressure and temperatureto simply dig up and haul to land. They form attypically several hundred metres beneath theseafloor at water depths of about 500 metres,where pressures are much higher than at thesurface, and temperatures are close to 0C. Takethem out of these conditions, and they beginto break down before the methane can beharnessed. But there are other ways to do it."Instead, you have to force those deposits torelease the methane from the formation in theseafloor. Then you can extract the gas that comesoff," says Ruppel.(Credit: Nigel Hawtin)(Credit:Nigel Hawtin, data from Renewable andSustainable Energy Reviews, 41, 884-900)A Japanese government funded researchprogramme is trying to do just that. Its initialmission, after several years of preliminaryresearch scoping out likely spots for methanehydrates, was in 2013. "It was a world-first,"says Koji Yamamoto, director general of the methanehydrate research and development group at the JapanOil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, and one ofthe leading researchers in Japan's national gashydrates research programme.The team managedto produce gas from the methane hydrate reservesby drilling a borehole down into the seabed of theNankai Trough, off the eastern coast of Japan's main island.By lowering the pressure on the reserves, they were ableto release and collect the gas. The test ran for six days,before sand entered the well and blocked the supply.A second test in 2017 ran in the Nankai Trough.This time the researchers used two test wells.The first encountered the same problem as beforeand became blocked with sand after several days.But the second of the well ran for 24 days withouttechnical problems, Yamamoto says.In 2013, the deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu succeededin extracting methane hydrate from the waters aroundcentral Japan (Credit: Getty Images) In general, peoplejust feel really scared to do anything to the ocean floor.The place is known to be unstable and earthquakeshappen - Ai OyamaEven though the tests ran for ashort time, they showed that there was a glimmerof potential that Japan might have usable carbon-based natural resources. The public reaction,however, was mixed, says Ai Oyama, a technicaltranslator and former research analyst working onmethane hydrates at the Hawai'i Natural EnergyInstitute. Some welcomed the idea that Japan mayhave energy independence. Others were very waryabout any technique that disturbed the seafloornear tectonic plate boundaries."In general, peoplejust feel really scared to do anything to the oceanfloor. The place is known to be unstable andearthquakes happen," Oyama says.The fear isthat depressurising one part of the methanehydrate deposit might make the whole reservebecome unstable."People worry that we'll startextracting methane from the gas hydrates andget into a runaway breakdown where we can'tstop it," says Ruppel.The problem with thiswould be two-fold. First, a lot of methane gaswould suddenly be released into the ocean -which could potentially add vast amounts of thegreenhouse gas to the atmosphere.Second, methanehydrate releases a lot of water as well as a lot ofmethane when it destabilises, which would introducea lot more liquid into the sediment below the ocean floor.In a steeply sloping environment, a lot of excess watercould lead to landslips. Some environmentalists evenfear that it could lead to a tsunami.(Credit: Nigel Hawtin)(Credit: Nigel Hawtin, based on data from Reviews ofGeophysics, 55(1), 126-168) However, the physicalproperties of methane hydrate put a natural brake onthis chain of events, says Ruppel. To release methanefrom a deposit, you have to put energy into the system.Without working hard to release the gas - throughlowering the pressure or raising the temperature of thedeposit - it simply stays put in its stable form of methanehydrate."So the problem is actually the opposite.You may start the process of getting the gas to come off,but to keep that process going, you have to introducemore energy to make it happen,"says Ruppel.While a runaway reaction isn't likely, theJapanese programme is still carrying out extensiveenvironmental studies to test the safety of the methanehydrate production. The data gathered at the first test in2013, and at a second longer test in 2017, so far hasn'tsuggested that the technique will destabilise the oceanfloor, Yamamoto says. But given Japan's history ofnatural disasters - around 24,000 people are still underevacuation order since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquakeand tsunami - the public is highly risk-averse.(Credit: Alamy)Flammable ice can be fragile, and if it crumbles during drilling,it could release a 'methane burp' into the ocean. Some fearthat this may unleash a tsunami (Credit: Alarmy)"We feel thatgas hydrate production is environmentally safe," says Yamamoto."But still, [the public] have a concern about negative effects ofgas hydrate production."As well as the reserves buried beneaththe sea floor, there is another type of methane hydrate depositthat has been gaining attention from Japanese researchers.Efforts to research shallower deposits, very close to theseafloor surface, is also being explored off in the Sea ofJapan to the west of the country. Accessing these shallowreserves poses a very different potential risk.Japan's untoldstoriesWelcome to BBC Future Now's Japan season, in whichwe explore the country's most exciting medical, technological,environmental and social trends.Coming up:The Olympic medals made from recycled phonesHow Japanmade fatherhood sexyThe secrets of Okinawa's superagers... and many more."These are very active biologicalenvironments," says Tim Collett, a senior scientist at theUS Geological Survey's Gas Hydrate Project. "There arewhole communities that live off the methane."Theseenvironments are rich in unique organisms, from bacteriato very large tubeworms and crabs, all specialised to liveoff the methane as their source of energy. In other partsof the world where these methane-based communitieslive, they are often protected as rare natural environments.Beneath the permafrostJapan's main efforts in extractingmethane hydrate, however are not in the seafloor at all,but in the only other place that flammable ice can found -deep in the permafrost, the permanently-frozen layer ofrock or soil that covers the ground at polar regions andhigh-rise mountains. Researchers from Japan, whichdoesn't have its own permafrost, are assisting in themost ambitious on-land production test for methanehydrate so far, in Alaska's North Slope.In December,researchers from Japan's national research programmeare set to start work with the US Geological Survey andthe US's Department of Energy, to begin what theyhope will be a long-term production test site. While thissource of methane hydrate is very different, the methodsused to get to it are actually very close. (Credit: Getty ImagesFlammable ice appears to smoke as it melts(Credit: Getty Images) "The conditions at thosereservoirs under the permafrost are pretty similar pressureand temperature conditions as they are in the Nankai Trough," says Collett. "It turns out, to the best of our knowledge,even though the Arctic and the marine environment arevery different, the physical properties of the deposits andhow they occur in the sediments appears to be very similar."The production techniques used in Alaska could end upbeing transferrable to the marine environment. But thereare still big challenges. A long-term production of methanehydrates hasn't been carried out anywhere yet, on land orunder the sea."We're still very much in research mode,"says Collett.Given the difficulty of retrieving gas from methanehydrate reserves, and the concerns around extraction, thestakes have to be high for a nation to invest heavily in thistechnology. Having very few other options in terms ofdomestic energy makes this hard-to-access source ofmethane an appealing prospect. Japan is not a countrythat has other carbon-based sources of energy to fall back on."Japan imports a lot of natural gas, but it is very costly.If we have our own domestic resource, [it could] contributeto the energy security of Japan," says Yamamoto.As an economic resource, it's easy to see the appealof methane hydrate. But, fundamentally, it is justanother source of natural gas and burning it wouldcontribute to climate change.All the social andenvironmental issues associated with fossil fuels apply to gashydrates"The most important thing is the recognitionand appreciation that gas hydrates are just another fossilfuel," says Collett. "All the social and environmental issuesassociated with fossil fuels apply to gas hydrates."In this context, methane hydrates - if they are to play arole in Japan's energy future - are likely to be used as abridging fuel, in the transition towards renewables.Natural gas is the least carbon-intensive form of fossil fuel,releasing less carbon dioxide per unit of energy releasedthan coal or oil. But, as a carbon-based fuel, burning itstill contributes to climate change.(Credit: Getty Images)Japan has been researching the potential of flammableice for decades, but it is only within the last few yearsthat extraction has come within reach (Credit: Getty Images)"We need to shift to renewable energy," says Koji Yamamoto."But complete switch to renewable energy [takes] avery long time."Even as a transition fuel, gas hydratescould be hugely important, Ruppel says. "Were a countryable to efficiently produce methane from these deposits,it could open a new realm in bridge fuels to another energyfuture," she says.How useful a role it can play in the futuredepends on how quickly methane hydrate can be accessedand produced on a commercial scale. The Japanese governmenthopes to begin commercial projects exploring methane hydratebetween 2023 and 2027, according to its latest StrategicEnergy Plan.This target could be a bit ambitious. Jun Matsushima, a researcher at the Frontier Research Center for Energyand Resources at the University of Tokyo, puts the estimateat around 2030 to 2050. "There is a long way to commercialisemethane hydrate," says Matsushima.The make-or-breakmoment will be when a long-term production test can besustained without technical problems or budget constraintsshutting it down, says Ruppel."I would guess there will bea long-term production test - from months to more thana year - by 2025. But I don't have a crystal ball," Ruppel says.But at the same time, Japan is committing to moving towardsrenewable energies and decarbonisation. As technologies forharnessing renewable energy become better and cheaper,the role for fossil fuels - especially experimental and expensiveones like methane hydrate - decreases. The longer it takes toget methane from gas hydrate reserves on a commercial scale,the shorter the useful window for using it may be.The other possibility is that adding in a new accessiblesource of fossil fuel could delay the transition to renewables,says Collett.This source of carbon, the most abundant in theworld, may be one of the last new forms of fossil fuel to beextracted on a commercial scale. It is also the only one tobe developed with the end of fossil fuels in sight.The race for methane hydrates is a unique one, whereresearchers are working towards a goal that might be madeirrelevant by renewables by the time they reach it.
The future of energy
Source: BBC.UKArticle by Martha Henriques23 November 2018Why 'flammable ice' could be the future of energyLast year, Japan succeeded in extracting anuntapped fuel from its ocean floor - methanehydrate, or flammable ice. Proponents argue thatit will offset energy crises, but what are theenvironmental risks?By Martha Henriques23November 2018 Future Now The Economicsof ChangeBuried below the seabed around Japan,there are beds of methane, trapped in molecularcages of ice. In some places, the sediment coveringthese deposits of frozen water and methane hasbeen eroded away, leaving whitish mounts of whatlooks like dirty ice rearing up out of the seafloor.Put a match to this sea ice and it doesn't just melt,it ignitesTake a chunk of this stuff up to the surfaceand it looks and feels much like ice, except for agive-away fizzing sensation in the palm of your hand,but put a match to it and it doesn't just melt, it ignites.Large international research programmes andcompanies in Japan, among other countries, areracing to retrieve this strange, counter-intuitivesubstance - known as fiery ice - from beneath theseafloor to use its methane for fuel.If all goes to plan, they may even start extractionby the end of the next decade. But the journeyso far has been far from smooth.(Credit: USDepartment of Energy)Could this humblematerial solve future energy crises? (Credit: USDepartment of Energy) There's no doubt that methane hydrates could offer a majorsource of fuel, with recent estimates suggestingthey constitute about a third of the total carbonheld in other fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.Several nations, notably Japan, want to extract it.It is not hard to find, often leaving a characteristicseismic signature that can be detected by researchvessels. The problem is retrieving that gas andbringing it to the surface."One thing that's clear isthat we're never going to go down and mine theseice-like deposits," says Carolyn Ruppel, who leadsthe US Geological Survey's Gas Hydrates Project.If you like this, you may also enjoy:A samuraiswordsmith is designing spaceprobesHow China'ssolar farms are transforming world energyHow todrink from the enormous lakes in the airIt allcomes down to physics. Methane hydrates aresimply too sensitive to pressure and temperatureto simply dig up and haul to land. They form attypically several hundred metres beneath theseafloor at water depths of about 500 metres,where pressures are much higher than at thesurface, and temperatures are close to 0C. Takethem out of these conditions, and they beginto break down before the methane can beharnessed. But there are other ways to do it."Instead, you have to force those deposits torelease the methane from the formation in theseafloor. Then you can extract the gas that comesoff," says Ruppel.(Credit: Nigel Hawtin)(Credit:Nigel Hawtin, data from Renewable andSustainable Energy Reviews, 41, 884-900)A Japanese government funded researchprogramme is trying to do just that. Its initialmission, after several years of preliminaryresearch scoping out likely spots for methanehydrates, was in 2013. "It was a world-first,"says Koji Yamamoto, director general of the methanehydrate research and development group at the JapanOil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, and one ofthe leading researchers in Japan's national gashydrates research programme.The team managedto produce gas from the methane hydrate reservesby drilling a borehole down into the seabed of theNankai Trough, off the eastern coast of Japan's main island.By lowering the pressure on the reserves, they were ableto release and collect the gas. The test ran for six days,before sand entered the well and blocked the supply.A second test in 2017 ran in the Nankai Trough.This time the researchers used two test wells.The first encountered the same problem as beforeand became blocked with sand after several days.But the second of the well ran for 24 days withouttechnical problems, Yamamoto says.In 2013, the deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu succeededin extracting methane hydrate from the waters aroundcentral Japan (Credit: Getty Images) In general, peoplejust feel really scared to do anything to the ocean floor.The place is known to be unstable and earthquakeshappen - Ai OyamaEven though the tests ran for ashort time, they showed that there was a glimmerof potential that Japan might have usable carbon-based natural resources. The public reaction,however, was mixed, says Ai Oyama, a technicaltranslator and former research analyst working onmethane hydrates at the Hawai'i Natural EnergyInstitute. Some welcomed the idea that Japan mayhave energy independence. Others were very waryabout any technique that disturbed the seafloornear tectonic plate boundaries."In general, peoplejust feel really scared to do anything to the oceanfloor. The place is known to be unstable andearthquakes happen," Oyama says.The fear isthat depressurising one part of the methanehydrate deposit might make the whole reservebecome unstable."People worry that we'll startextracting methane from the gas hydrates andget into a runaway breakdown where we can'tstop it," says Ruppel.The problem with thiswould be two-fold. First, a lot of methane gaswould suddenly be released into the ocean -which could potentially add vast amounts of thegreenhouse gas to the atmosphere.Second, methanehydrate releases a lot of water as well as a lot ofmethane when it destabilises, which would introducea lot more liquid into the sediment below the ocean floor.In a steeply sloping environment, a lot of excess watercould lead to landslips. Some environmentalists evenfear that it could lead to a tsunami.(Credit: Nigel Hawtin)(Credit: Nigel Hawtin, based on data from Reviews ofGeophysics, 55(1), 126-168) However, the physicalproperties of methane hydrate put a natural brake onthis chain of events, says Ruppel. To release methanefrom a deposit, you have to put energy into the system.Without working hard to release the gas - throughlowering the pressure or raising the temperature of thedeposit - it simply stays put in its stable form of methanehydrate."So the problem is actually the opposite.You may start the process of getting the gas to come off,but to keep that process going, you have to introducemore energy to make it happen,"says Ruppel.While a runaway reaction isn't likely, theJapanese programme is still carrying out extensiveenvironmental studies to test the safety of the methanehydrate production. The data gathered at the first test in2013, and at a second longer test in 2017, so far hasn'tsuggested that the technique will destabilise the oceanfloor, Yamamoto says. But given Japan's history ofnatural disasters - around 24,000 people are still underevacuation order since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquakeand tsunami - the public is highly risk-averse.(Credit: Alamy)Flammable ice can be fragile, and if it crumbles during drilling,it could release a 'methane burp' into the ocean. Some fearthat this may unleash a tsunami (Credit: Alarmy)"We feel thatgas hydrate production is environmentally safe," says Yamamoto."But still, [the public] have a concern about negative effects ofgas hydrate production."As well as the reserves buried beneaththe sea floor, there is another type of methane hydrate depositthat has been gaining attention from Japanese researchers.Efforts to research shallower deposits, very close to theseafloor surface, is also being explored off in the Sea ofJapan to the west of the country. Accessing these shallowreserves poses a very different potential risk.Japan's untoldstoriesWelcome to BBC Future Now's Japan season, in whichwe explore the country's most exciting medical, technological,environmental and social trends.Coming up:The Olympic medals made from recycled phonesHow Japanmade fatherhood sexyThe secrets of Okinawa's superagers... and many more."These are very active biologicalenvironments," says Tim Collett, a senior scientist at theUS Geological Survey's Gas Hydrate Project. "There arewhole communities that live off the methane."Theseenvironments are rich in unique organisms, from bacteriato very large tubeworms and crabs, all specialised to liveoff the methane as their source of energy. In other partsof the world where these methane-based communitieslive, they are often protected as rare natural environments.Beneath the permafrostJapan's main efforts in extractingmethane hydrate, however are not in the seafloor at all,but in the only other place that flammable ice can found -deep in the permafrost, the permanently-frozen layer ofrock or soil that covers the ground at polar regions andhigh-rise mountains. Researchers from Japan, whichdoesn't have its own permafrost, are assisting in themost ambitious on-land production test for methanehydrate so far, in Alaska's North Slope.In December,researchers from Japan's national research programmeare set to start work with the US Geological Survey andthe US's Department of Energy, to begin what theyhope will be a long-term production test site. While thissource of methane hydrate is very different, the methodsused to get to it are actually very close. (Credit: Getty ImagesFlammable ice appears to smoke as it melts(Credit: Getty Images) "The conditions at thosereservoirs under the permafrost are pretty similar pressureand temperature conditions as they are in the Nankai Trough," says Collett. "It turns out, to the best of our knowledge,even though the Arctic and the marine environment arevery different, the physical properties of the deposits andhow they occur in the sediments appears to be very similar."The production techniques used in Alaska could end upbeing transferrable to the marine environment. But thereare still big challenges. A long-term production of methanehydrates hasn't been carried out anywhere yet, on land orunder the sea."We're still very much in research mode,"says Collett.Given the difficulty of retrieving gas from methanehydrate reserves, and the concerns around extraction, thestakes have to be high for a nation to invest heavily in thistechnology. Having very few other options in terms ofdomestic energy makes this hard-to-access source ofmethane an appealing prospect. Japan is not a countrythat has other carbon-based sources of energy to fall back on."Japan imports a lot of natural gas, but it is very costly.If we have our own domestic resource, [it could] contributeto the energy security of Japan," says Yamamoto.As an economic resource, it's easy to see the appealof methane hydrate. But, fundamentally, it is justanother source of natural gas and burning it wouldcontribute to climate change.All the social andenvironmental issues associated with fossil fuels apply to gashydrates"The most important thing is the recognitionand appreciation that gas hydrates are just another fossilfuel," says Collett. "All the social and environmental issuesassociated with fossil fuels apply to gas hydrates."In this context, methane hydrates - if they are to play arole in Japan's energy future - are likely to be used as abridging fuel, in the transition towards renewables.Natural gas is the least carbon-intensive form of fossil fuel,releasing less carbon dioxide per unit of energy releasedthan coal or oil. But, as a carbon-based fuel, burning itstill contributes to climate change.(Credit: Getty Images)Japan has been researching the potential of flammableice for decades, but it is only within the last few yearsthat extraction has come within reach (Credit: Getty Images)"We need to shift to renewable energy," says Koji Yamamoto."But complete switch to renewable energy [takes] avery long time."Even as a transition fuel, gas hydratescould be hugely important, Ruppel says. "Were a countryable to efficiently produce methane from these deposits,it could open a new realm in bridge fuels to another energyfuture," she says.How useful a role it can play in the futuredepends on how quickly methane hydrate can be accessedand produced on a commercial scale. The Japanese governmenthopes to begin commercial projects exploring methane hydratebetween 2023 and 2027, according to its latest StrategicEnergy Plan.This target could be a bit ambitious. Jun Matsushima, a researcher at the Frontier Research Center for Energyand Resources at the University of Tokyo, puts the estimateat around 2030 to 2050. "There is a long way to commercialisemethane hydrate," says Matsushima.The make-or-breakmoment will be when a long-term production test can besustained without technical problems or budget constraintsshutting it down, says Ruppel."I would guess there will bea long-term production test - from months to more thana year - by 2025. But I don't have a crystal ball," Ruppel says.But at the same time, Japan is committing to moving towardsrenewable energies and decarbonisation. As technologies forharnessing renewable energy become better and cheaper,the role for fossil fuels - especially experimental and expensiveones like methane hydrate - decreases. The longer it takes toget methane from gas hydrate reserves on a commercial scale,the shorter the useful window for using it may be.The other possibility is that adding in a new accessiblesource of fossil fuel could delay the transition to renewables,says Collett.This source of carbon, the most abundant in theworld, may be one of the last new forms of fossil fuel to beextracted on a commercial scale. It is also the only one tobe developed with the end of fossil fuels in sight.The race for methane hydrates is a unique one, whereresearchers are working towards a goal that might be madeirrelevant by renewables by the time they reach it.