Sediment-Hosted Gas Hydrates: New Insights on Natural and Synthetic Systems
There is much interest in gas hydrates in relation to their potential role as an important driver for climate change and as a major new energy source; however, many questions remain, not least the size of the global hydrate budget. Much of the current uncertainty centres on how hydrates are physically stored in sediments at a range of scales. This volume details advances in our understanding of sediment-hosted hydrates, and contains papers covering a range of studies of real and artificial sediments containing both methane hydrates and CO2 hydrates. The papers include an examination of the techniques used to locate, sample and characterize hydrates from natural, methane-rich systems, so as to understand them better. Other contributions consider the nature and stability of synthetic hydrates formed in the laboratory, which in turn improve our ability to make accurate predictive models.
Can CO2 hydrate assist in the underground storage of carbon dioxide?
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Published:January 01, 2009
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CiteCitation
C. A. Rochelle, A. P. Camps, D. Long, A. Milodowski, K. Bateman, D. Gunn, P. Jackson, M. A. Lovell, J. Rees, 2009. "Can CO2 hydrate assist in the underground storage of carbon dioxide?", Sediment-Hosted Gas Hydrates: New Insights on Natural and Synthetic Systems, D. Long, M. A. Lovell, J. G. Rees, C. A. Rochelle
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Abstract
The sequestration of CO2 in the deep geosphere is one potential method for reducing anthropogenic emissions to the atmosphere without necessarily incurring a significant change in our energy-producing technologies. Containment of CO2 as a liquid and an associated hydrate phase, under cool conditions, offers an alternative underground storage approach compared with conventional supercritical CO2 storage at higher temperatures. We briefly describe conventional approaches to underground storage, review possible approaches for using CO2 hydrate in CO2 storage generally, and comment on the important role CO2 hydrate could play in underground storage. Cool underground storage appears to offer certain advantages in terms of physical, chemical and mineralogical processes, which may usefully enhance trapping of the stored CO2. This approach also appears to be potentially applicable to large areas of sub-seabed sediments offshore Western Europe.