Methane Hydrates And Its Effects On The Environment Essay

Even more disturbing to some, possible groundwater contamination is the claim that the methane released during the extraction process cancels out any of the assumed environmental benefits. Although the overall amounts are relatively low, methane has one-hundred and five times more warming impact pound for pound than carbon dioxide, and so a little really does go a long way when it comes to climate change. Not surprisingly, there is wide disagreement on how much methane is being leaked into the atmosphere as part of the fracking process.

Hydrauling Fracturing is a process used in nine out of ten natural gas wells in the United States, where millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground to break apart the rock and release the gas. Hydrauling Fracturing damages the land, contaminates drinking water, pollutes the air, cause illness in surrounding communities and has aslo known to cause earthquakes (Goldman, Jennifer). It has major threats towards our climate. Methane gas the main competed of natural gas is less common but more potent to greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide 85 to 105 time more powerful than carbon dioxide at disrupting the climate over 20 years (Goldman, Jennifer ).Water and Pollution are also infected by this. In Texas and Colorado more than 3.6 million gallons of water are used very time a well is fracked. Fracking fluids and waste have made their way to our drinking water and aquifers (Hoffman, Joe ). The counter argument to this problems is fossil complains claiming that these fracking fluids are harmless because they’re roughly 2% chemicals and 98% other.

Today there is great demand for natural gases and oils, we use them every day from our cars to running appliances in our houses. We have developed skills and techniques to extracting these gases and oils. One technique is Hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic Fracturing also known as Fracking. Fracking has many dangers to it from polluting water supply, land and even air.

Canada is one of the Arctic States that according to the international law have presence economic activity on the Arctic shelf, while the status of the Canadian sector in the Arctic is the second largest which is 25% after Russian Federation sector which 40%. Arctic coastal states has same interests in the arctic zone due to the rich of covered and undiscovered natural resources. Canada also has the interest in the Arctic to exploit Arctic’s vast natural resources which is the oil and gas. As noted that the coastal area of the Canadian Arctic has huge reserves of methane hydrate, and according to the Heinenen (2014), if commercial production launched in the future, these reserves would last for several hundred years. Yet the current situations in the Canadian Arctic is the Canada does not conduct drilling on its Arctic shelf and also the safe technologies have not yet been developed.

There is a never ending search for an effective source of energy that is both efficient and the safest option to use. Scientists located in japan may have found a solution to this dilemma as they were recently able to locate methane clathrate, more commonly known as fire ice. Despite the name existing as an oxymoron, many believe this hydrate could prove to be the savior for the earth’s fuel problems. However, given current research this supposedly useful source of natural gas could prove even more detrimental towards the environment than carbon dioxide.

Furthermore, Fred Krupp claims that uncontrolled emissions of methane are 84 times more effective than carbon dioxide over a frame of 20 years and that’s why it deserves more national attention. In addition, there are methane leaks that happen all across the oil and gas production sites, and those leakages cause as

Marcellus Shale is geologically defined as a sedimentary rock that is located at least a mile below the surface and developed approximately 380 million years ago, during Devonian times, in a region referred to as the Appalachian Basin, which explains its prominence in the northeastern region of the United States (“What”). But, more importantly, Marcellus is a specific example of natural gas that contains a substantial concentration of methane, “trapped in low-permeability shale, which requires the hydraulic fracturing or fracking” (“Marcellus Formation”). The natural gas occurs within the Marcellus Shale in several ways, including: “the pore spaces of the shale, the vertical fractures that break through the shale, and adsorbed on mineral grains and organic

Gas hydrates (GHs) are compounds which are made up of water molecules and guest gas such as methane, carbon dioxide or hydrogen sulfide. GHs have a clathrate structure where the guest gas is trapped in the water molecules forming a cage. GHs appear to be solid like an ice but their physical properties differ from those of ice.

A recent study undertaken by the Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources showed that China has 25.08 trillion cubic meters of proven shale oil and gas reserves, which is more than 200 times the national’s annual energy consumption rate. These statistics put China as the leading nation with the largest proven shale oil and gas reserves globally whose exploitation could open more opportunities for the country including reduced reliance on coal and energy imports from foreign countries, increased resources, and environmental conservation, and increased global economic superiority among others. Moreover, China would transform from an importer of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the world’s leading supplier, and would also imply that the country

Everyone who does not live under a rock enjoys their heating and energy supply that charges their computers and keeps them toasty in the winter. Nearly one hundred percent of the time, an individual using such resources will neglect to take note of where they come from. Many a time this energy comes from natural gas (methane hydrates), which have special properties like all chemicals that can make them bad for the environment, and lead to consequences for the future.

As shown previously, methane hydrate contains 1 mole of methane for every 5.75 mole of water, corresponding to 13.4% methane by mass, in ideal situation. In reality, this number might be lower. Therefore, the actual energy housed within a methane hydrate formation is likely to be much lower than that of a conventional gas, coal, or oil formation with the same volume. Combining with the reality that a methane hydrate formation can exist with very low methane hydrate saturation (~5%), the energy housed within such formation will be even lower. Therefore, when extracting a methane hydrate formation, the maximum energy input for extraction is of consideration, since if the required input energy is larger than the theoretical output energy, the whole process will become commercially unfavorable. There is not enough statistical data to show the net energy output while using thermal injection method or CO2 injection method. But both of these methods are energy intensive. For thermal injection method, a constant stream of steam or hot water need to be produced and injected into the formation. While the constant production of steam or hot water is already energy intensive, the heat dissipation during injection is also considerable, since the formations are typically hundreds of meters underneath the seafloor or hundreds of meters deep in the permafrost. For CO2 injection method, the CO2

Methane is a major component of natural gas and is largely produced by biological production and leaking from natural gas pipelines and other infrastructure. Some of the biological sources of methane are natural, such as termites. Other sources, however, are driven by increased human agricultural activity, such as the cultivation of rice. Recent evidence suggests that forests may be the source of

Methane Clathrates may be a viable source of energy in other countries but it is unlikely to be highly beneficial in Australia due to the scarce amount of potential sites available, refer to map ~. Furthermore, the concentration of hydrates in marine deposits appears to be low, reducing the economic potential for Australia (Collette). Clathrate deposits are high in concentration around Japan, offshore Alsaka, the east coast of The United States of

Geological structures within the earth can determine a multitude of variables when determining such things as formations, permeability, porosity, lithology, mineralogy, saturation and normal/abnormal/subnormal pressure which in turn can provide the necessary information for reservoir pay zones. The foundation for hydrocarbons is based off of the organic theory which states that the hydrocarbons formed through an anaerobic environment (lacking oxygen) over time with high pressures and relatively low temperatures (300°F - 392°F) with carbon based materials such as algae. The basis for algae is the fact that the ocean contained around 95% of plankton in the ocean and reservoirs for hydrocarbons are found in sediments made up of

The world, as we know it, is dependent on oil and gas. Oil and gas enables the world to have energy, to travel to and from various locations, controls the economy, and essentially makes the world go round. As the world becomes more dependent on oil and gas, becoming a single energy-consuming unit, it begins to solely function on energy by craving more of it, crashing without it, and obtaining it by any means necessary. Whether drinking water sources become contaminated or alterations in tectonic structure take place, the world needs what it needs, right? In order to obtain oil and gas more efficiently, researchers have developed two new technologies that have been combined to allow the extraction of oil and gas from low permeability rock,