Burn Methane before it burns us.

[animartco]

One of the biggest threats in global warming is the release of methane from a warming permafrost. So the SENSIBLE thing to do would be to preempt this and solve all our energy requirements at the same time by having power stations on tracks moving across the tundra warming areas and harvesting the methane as fuel. There's plenty of it! It doesn't need to be mined; only heated! Why havent I heard of this happening? I can't THINK why it wouldn't work, it's SO SIMPLE!!!

[STYRBJORN]

Because the release of millions of tonnes of crystalline methane hydrate into the atmosphere is a climate scientist's worst nightmare. Instant massive greenhouse effect, temperature rise in double figures. Apart from the total impracticability of catching the stuff in a giant vacuum cleaner!
Don't mess with it. If it lets go it will all go at once. Ever squeezed a zit?

Ric

[John D]

Originally Posted by animartco

One of the biggest threats in global warming is the release of methane from a warming permafrost. So the SENSIBLE thing to do would be to preempt this and solve all our energy requirements at the same time by having power stations on tracks moving across the tundra warming areas and harvesting the methane as fuel. There's plenty of it! It doesn't need to be mined; only heated! Why havent I heard of this happening? I can't THINK why it wouldn't work, it's SO SIMPLE!!!

Hi Animartco,

Several studies were carried out on different methods of capturing/collecting methane from landfill tips around 25/30 years ago but like many other projects of the time, little became of it. The Electricity Council was one of the active authorities involved. Several ways of making use of the gas were also considered such a 'combined heat and power (CHP) schemes', district heating and power generation.
All of the proposal put forward were quite feasible and certainly would have been worthy of greater consideration. It obviously would have lead to a healthier/cleaner environment and use of an energy source that is currently going to waste.
Some use of course is made of methane where it is collected at some sewage plants and used as the fuel for space heating of the plant and office. However a much greater use could obviously be made of such a widespread resource.

John D
Zenfolio | John's Wild World

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by STYRBJORN

Because the release of millions of tonnes of crystalline methane hydrate into the atmosphere is a climate scientist's worst nightmare. Instant massive greenhouse effect, temperature rise in double figures. Apart from the total impracticability of catching the stuff in a giant vacuum cleaner!
Don't mess with it. If it lets go it will all go at once. Ever squeezed a zit?

Ric

and even if it were possible , burning all that methane would not be"clean" as it would generate a load of Co2

[STYRBJORN]

Let's see now. We are told that the major source of methane in our atmosphere is bovine flatulence. The atmosphere of Jupiter is 95% methane. Presumably the surface of Jupiter is covered with Jovian cows all trumping happily away? There is life on other planets! Just don't stand downwind of it . . . Or strike a light. The idea blows me away.

Ric

[John_M]

Methane hydrate occurs widely, but is confined to a fairly narrow pressure / temperature regime, mostly sub - seabed (or at least that's where it has been discovered) and not in permafrost. If it was simple to harvest this resource, rest assured it would be going on now. However, any attempt to drill into it will more than likely destabilise the hydrate (by reducing pressure) and the result will be, as Styrbjorn says, to release enourmous amounts of methane into the sea and atmosphere. At sea, this release will result in, firstly, any vessels or semisubs in the area losing their buoyancy and sinking. The mixture of methane and oxygen at the sea surface will create an extremely flammable mixture. Methane is a far more significant greenhouse gas that carbon dioxide. Even if it was possible to capture at least a proportion of the methane, we would be burning a fossil fuel, with all the consequencies that implies.
The notion of having some sort of wheeled vehicle to warm the permafrost is just plain silly. When working on the arctic tundra, special measures have to be taken to avoid warming it, eg fat vehicle tyres to spread the weight.
Oil companies have been looking at exploiting gas hydrates for some years, but as far as I know it's still considered too dangerous to attempt to extract it. Where hydrates occur at the seabed, what about the organisms that depend on it?

[John D]

Methane is already a source of power in parts of the world including the UK.
There are several websites that explain where and how these plants operate see the following -

Anaerobic Digestor plants in UK -
Anaerobic Digestion Plants in UK

[John_M]

Methane is indeed a source of power in the UK, but not from hydrates. North sea gas is methane.

[STYRBJORN]

Methane gas at normal atmospheric pressure and temperature is a potentially useful fuel, ie as in landfill sites. Solid crystalline methane hydrate, whether under permafrost or in seabottom sites, is potentially lethal. As I said before, if it lets go it will all go at once.

Ric

[John D]

Discovery of methane reserves worth hundreds of millions in Cumbria

Have just read an article in one of today's papers and have also come across the link below. Very interesting.


Cumberland News | Huge gas field worth hundreds of millions found near Cumbrian town


John D