Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Gas Hydrates as a Potential Energy Resource for Energy Sustainability

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Sustainable Energy Technology and Policies

Part of the book series: Green Energy and Technology ((GREEN))

Abstract

Energy is an essential commodity for the survival and socioeconomic development of the human race. The energy supply sector primarily comprises of industrial, commercial, and domestic applications. The foremost challenges faced by the energy supply sector are growing consumption levels, limited accessibility, environmental concerns, viz-a-viz, climate change, and pollution of water and air resources. As conventional resources of energy have started to decline and are expected to get exhausted by 2040, the main focus has been shifted to unconventional sources [1]. In this category, natural gas resources such as gas hydrate, shale gas, coal bed methane will provide tremendous potential for meeting the demand. Gas hydrates are ice-like crystalline substance formed by a framework of water and natural gas molecules. Recent exploration programs by various agencies such as United States Geological Survey (USGS), National Gas Hydrate Program (India), Japanese Methane Gas Hydrate R&D have proved that massive amount of gas hydrate deposits lying across marine settings and permafrost environments. Hydrate deposits are currently estimated to be 5 × 1015 m3 of methane gas [2]. If this untapped resource of energy becomes feasible for the economic production, it could increase natural gas reserves to multifold. Moreover, this would be considerably greater than the total amount of all fossil fuels together. As reported by USGS, gas hydrates hold more than 50% of the entire world’s carbon. It has been estimated that commercial production of methane from 15% of natural gas hydrate can fulfill the energy requirement of the entire world for next 200 years [3]. Hence, natural gas hydrates are considered to be the vital sustainable energy resource. Many pilot production tests have been completed and are underway to recover methane from gas hydrate deposit across the world [4]. Preliminary studies and pilot tests have shown promising results in terms of methane recovery from natural gas hydrates by employing methods such as thermal stimulation, depressurization, inhibitor injection. Ongoing gas hydrate research programs throughout the world and advances in technology will certainly help to cater any technical challenges in order to potentially harness the huge amount of energy stored in the form of natural gas hydrates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. U.S. Energy Information Administration (2016) International Energy Outlook 2016

    Google Scholar 

  2. Konno Y, Masuda Y, Hariguchi Y, Kurihara M, Ouchi H (2010) Key factors for depressurization-induced gas production from oceanic methane hydrates. Energy Fuels 24:1736–1744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ip W-H, Gan J (2010) Advances in geosciences, vol 18. Ocean science (OS). World Scientific

    Google Scholar 

  4. Siažik J, Malcho M (2017) Accumulation of primary energy into natural gas hydrates. Procedia Eng 192:782–787

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Dell R (2001) Energy storage, a key technology for global energy sustainability. J Power Sources 100:2–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Rogelj J, Den Elzen M, Höhne N, Fransen T, Fekete H, Winkler H, Schaeffer R, Sha F, Riahi K, Meinshausen M (2016) Paris Agreement climate proposals need a boost to keep warming well below 2 °C. Nature 534:631–639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Wang X, Economides M (2013) Advanced natural gas engineering. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, TX

    Google Scholar 

  8. Kvenvolden KA (1993) Gas hydrates—geological perspective and global change. Rev Geophys 31(2):173–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Sloan ED, Koh CA (2008) Clathrate hydrates of natural gases, 3rd edn. CRC Press, FL, USA

    Google Scholar 

  10. Lu SM (2015) A global survey of gas hydrate development and reserves: specifically in the marine field. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 41:884–900

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Hammerschmidt EG (1934) Formation of gas hydrates in natural gas transmission lines. Ind Eng Chem 26:851–855

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Makogon YF (1965) A gas hydrate formation in the gas saturated layers under low temperature. Gas Ind 5:14–15

    Google Scholar 

  13. Holder GD, Hand JH (1982) Multiple-phase equilibria in hydrates from methane, ethane, propane and water mixtures. AIChE J 28:440–447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Makogon YF (1997) Hydrates of hydrocarbons. PennWell Books

    Google Scholar 

  15. Sun ZG, Wang R, Ma R, Guo K, Fan S (2003) Natural gas storage in hydrates with the presence of promoters. Energy Convers Manage 44:2733–2742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Sum AK, Burruss RC, Sloan ED (1997) Measurement of clathrate hydrates via Raman spectroscopy. J Phys Chem B 101:7371–7377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Mech D, Gupta P, Sangwai JS (2016) Kinetics of methane hydrate formation in an aqueous solution of thermodynamic promoters (THF and TBAB) with and without kinetic promoter (SDS). J Nat Gas Sci Eng 35:1519–1534

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Vedachalam N, Ramesh S, Jyothi VBN, Prasad NT, Ramesh R, Sathianarayanan D, Ramadass GA, Atmanand MA (2015) Evaluation of the depressurization based technique for methane hydrates reservoir dissociation in a marine setting, in the Krishna Godavari Basin, east coast of India. J Nat Gas Sci Eng 25:226–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Meyer RF (1981) Speculations on oil and gas resources in small fields and unconventional deposits. In: Meyer RF, Olson JC (eds) Long-term energy resources. Pitman, Boston, pp 49–72

    Google Scholar 

  20. Dobrynin VM, Korotajev Yu P, Plyuschev DV (1981) Gas hydrates—a possible energy resource. In: Meyer RF, Olson JC (eds) Long-term energy resources. Pitman Publishers, Boston, pp 727–729

    Google Scholar 

  21. Collett TS, Johnson AH, Knapp CC, Boswell R (2009) Natural gas hydrates: a review, pp 146–219

    Google Scholar 

  22. Zhao J, Song Y, Lim XL, Lam WH (2017) Opportunities and challenges of gas hydrate policies with consideration of environmental impacts. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 70:875–885

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Wadham JL, Arndt S, Tulaczyk S, Stibal M, Tranter M, Telling J, Lis GP, Lawson E, Ridgwell A, Dubnick A, Sharp MJ (2012) Potential methane reservoirs beneath Antarctica. Nature 488:633–637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Collett TS (1993) Natural gas hydrates of the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk river are, North Slope, Alaska. AAPG Bull 77:793–812

    Google Scholar 

  25. Collett TS (2002) Energy resource potential of natural gas hydrates. AAPG Bull 86:1971–1992

    Google Scholar 

  26. Kvenvolden KA (1993) A primer in gas hydrates. The Future of Energy Gases 1570:279–292

    Google Scholar 

  27. Xu W, Ruppel C (1999) Predicting the occurrence, distribution, and evolution of methane gas hydrate in porous marine sediments. J Geophys Res Solid Earth 104:5081–5095

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Collett TS, Ladd J (2000) Detection of gas hydrate with downhole logs and assessment of gas hydrate concentrations (saturations) and gas volumes on the Blake Ridge with electrical resistivity log data. In: Proceedings of the Ocean drilling program. Scientific Results, vol 164, pp 179–191

    Google Scholar 

  29. Hunter RB, Collett TS, Boswell R, Anderson BJ, Digert SA, Pospisil G, Baker R, Weeks M (2011) Mount Elbert gas hydrate stratigraphic test well, Alaska North Slope: overview of scientific and technical program. Marine Petrol Geol 28:295–310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Collett TS, Boswell R, Cochran JR, Kumar P, Lall M, Mazumdar A, Ramana MV, Ramprasad T, Riedel M, Sain K, Sathe AV (2014) Natural gas hydrates of the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk river area: results of the national gas hydrate program expedition 01. Marine Petrol Geol 58:3–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Mordis GJ, Collet TS, Boswell R, Kurihama M, Reagan MT, Koh C, Sloan ED (2008) Toward production from gas hydrate: current status, assessment of resources, and simulation based evaluation of technology and potential. In: SPE unconventional reservoirs conference, pp 10–12, February, Keystone, Colorado, USA

    Google Scholar 

  32. Kurihara M, Ouchi H, Narita H, Masuda Y (2011) Gas production from methane hydrate reservoirs. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Gas Hydrates (ICGH), vol 1721. Edinburgh, UK

    Google Scholar 

  33. Tang LG, Xiao R, Huang C, Feng ZP, Fan SS (2005) Experimental investigation of production behaviour of gas hydrate under thermal stimulation in unconsolidated sediment. Energy Fuels 19:2402–2407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Cranganu C (2009) In-situ thermal stimulation of gas hydrates. J Petrol Sci Eng 65:76–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Liu Y, Strumendo M, Arastoopour H (2008) Simulation of methane production from hydrates by depressurization and thermal stimulation. Ind Eng Chem Res 48:2451–2464

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Wang Y, Li XS, Li G, Zhang Y, Li B, Chen ZY (2013) Experimental investigation into methane hydrate production during three-dimensional thermal stimulation with five-spot well system. Appl Energy 110:90–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Yamamoto K, Dallimore S (2008) Aurora-JOGMEC-NRCan Mallik 2006-2008 gas hydrate research project progress. Nat Gas & Oil 304:285–4541

    Google Scholar 

  38. Ji C, Ahmadi G, Smith DH (2001) Natural gas production from hydrate decomposition by depressurization. Chem Eng Sci 56:5801–5814

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Kono HO, Narasimhan S, Song F, Smith DH (2002) Synthesis of methane gas hydrate in porous sediments and its dissociation by depressurizing. Powder Technol 122:239–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Bai Y, Yang H, Du Y, Zhao Y (2013) The sensitivity analysis of scaling criteria in gas hydrate reservoir physical simulation. Energy Convers Manage 67:138–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Konno Y, Jin Y, Shinjou K, Nagao J (2014) Experimental evaluation of the gas recovery factor of methane hydrate in sandy sediment. RSC Adv 4:51666–51675

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Pang WX, Xu WY, Sun CY, Zhang CL, Chen GJ (2009) Methane hydrate dissociation experiment in a middle-sized quiescent reactor using thermal method. Fuel 88:497–503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Song Y, Cheng C, Zhao J, Zhu Z, Liu W, Yang M, Xue K (2015) Evaluation of gas production from methane hydrates using depressurization, thermal stimulation and combined methods. Appl Energy 145:265–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Dong F, Zang X, Li D, Fan S, Liang D (2009) Experimental investigation on propane hydrate dissociation by high concentration methanol and ethylene glycol solution injection. Energy Fuels 23:1563–1567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Sung W, Lee H, Lee H, Lee C (2002) Numerical study for production performances of a methane hydrate reservoir stimulated by inhibitor injection. Energy Sources 24:499–512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Mech D, Pandey G, Sangwai JS (2015) Effect of molecular weight of polyethylene glycol on the equilibrium dissociation pressures of methane hydrate system. J Chem Eng Data 60:1878–1885

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Chong ZR, Yang SHB, Babu P, Linga P, Li XS (2016) Review of natural gas hydrates as an energy resource: prospects and challenges. Appl Energy 162:1633–1652

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Koh D-Y, Kang H, Lee J-W, Park Y, Kim S-J, Lee J, Lee JY, Lee H (2016) Energy-efficient natural gas hydrate production using gas exchange. Appl Energy 162:114–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Goel N (2006) In situ methane hydrate dissociation with carbon dioxide sequestration: current knowledge and issues. J Petrol Sci Eng 51:169–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Mekala P, Busch M, Mech D, Patel RS, Sangwai JS (2014) Effect of silica sand size on the formation kinetics of CO2 hydrate in porous media in the presence of pure water and seawater relevant for CO2 sequestration. J Petrol Sci Eng 122:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Wang B, Dong H, Fan Z, Zhao J, Song Y (2017) Gas production from methane hydrate deposits induced by depressurization in conjunction with thermal stimulation. Energy Procedia 105:4713–4717

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Collett TS (2004) Gas hydrates as a future energy resource. Geotimes 49:24–27

    Google Scholar 

  53. Schoderbek D, Martin KL, Howard J, Silpngarmlert S, Hester K (2012) North Slope hydrate field trial: CO2/CH4 exchange. In: OTC Arctic Technology Conference. Offshore Technology Conference. 3rd December, Houston, Texas, USA

    Google Scholar 

  54. Yamamoto K, Terao Y, Fujii T, Ikawa T, Seki M, Matsuzawa M, Kanno T (2014) Operational overview of the first offshore production test of methane hydrates in the Eastern Nankai Trough. In: Offshore Technology Conference. Offshore Technology Conference, 5–8 May, Houston, TX

    Google Scholar 

  55. Reuters (2017) Japan reports successful gas output test from methane hydrate (online). Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/japan-methane-hydrate-idUSL4N1IA35A. Accessed 20 Jun 2017

  56. Zhang HQ, Yang SX, Wu NY, Su X, Holland M, Schultheiss P (2007) China’s first gas hydrate expedition successful. Fire Ice Newslett 7(2):1

    Google Scholar 

  57. News.cgtn.com (2017) China’s first gas hydrate extraction successful (online). Available at: https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d67544f786b7a4d/share_p.html. Accessed 10 Jun 2017

  58. Park KP (2006) Gas hydrate exploration in Korea. In: Proceedings of the 2nd international symposium on gas hydrate technology, November. Daejeon, Korea, pp 1–2

    Google Scholar 

  59. Mech D, Sangwai JS (2014) Phase stability of hydrates of methane in tetrahydrofuran aqueous solution and the effect of salt. J Chem Eng Data 59:3932–3937

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Sangwai JS, Oellrich L (2014) Phase equilibrium of semiclathrate hydrates of methane in aqueous solutions of tetra-n-butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB) and TBAB–NaCl. Fluid Phase Equilib 367:95–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Nago A, Nieto A (2011) Natural gas production from methane hydrate deposits using clathrate sequestration: state-of-the-art review and new technical approaches. J Geol Res 2011:1–6

    Google Scholar 

  62. Sain K, Gupta H (2012) Gas hydrates in India: potential and development. Gondwana Res 22:645–657

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Kvenvolden KA (1988) Methane hydrate—a major reservoir of carbon in the shallow geosphere? Chem Geol 71:41–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Boswell R, Collett TS (2006) The gas hydrates resource pyramid: fire in the ice. Methane hydrate newsletter, US Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Fall Issue, pp 5–7

    Google Scholar 

  65. Xiao C, Wibisono N, Adidharma H (2010) Dialkylimidazolium halide ionic liquids as dual function inhibitors for methane hydrate. Chem Eng Sci 65:3080–3087

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gas Hydrate and Flow Assurance Laboratory, Petroleum Engineering Program, Department of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, India

    Vishnu Chandrasekharan Nair, Pawan Gupta & Jitendra S. Sangwai

Authors
  1. Vishnu Chandrasekharan Nair
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pawan Gupta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jitendra S. Sangwai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jitendra S. Sangwai .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Sudipta De

  2. Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

    Santanu Bandyopadhyay

  3. Natural Gas Technology, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway

    Mohsen Assadi

  4. Energy and Environment Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Deb A Mukherjee

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Nair, V.C., Gupta, P., Sangwai, J.S. (2018). Gas Hydrates as a Potential Energy Resource for Energy Sustainability. In: De, S., Bandyopadhyay, S., Assadi, M., Mukherjee, D. (eds) Sustainable Energy Technology and Policies. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7188-1_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7188-1_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-7187-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-7188-1

  • eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation