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Energy Research (2008/03/07)

Researchers from National Taiwan University are working on ways to utilize vast reserves of methane hydrate under the sea floor of Taiwan’s southwest coast. Not only could the deposits provide cleaner burning fuel, the researchers hope to use the hydrate as a CO2 sink, possibly reducing Taiwan’s climate-changing emissions.
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Methane clarate is made up of over 99 percent methane. The crystalline structure burns when ignited, giving it the nickname “burning ice.” As yet, no country has been able to utilize this energy resource.

After a four-year survey, local researchers have discovered large deposits of the naturally occurring hydrate in the seabed off Taiwan’s southwest coast. The main problem remains the fact that methane has many tens of times the impact of carbon dioxide on climate change if released directly into the atmosphere. But if safely extracted and burned, it produces almost 30 percent less CO2 than gasoline and 45 percent less than coal, making it an attractive unconventional energy source. But researchers are hoping it can help reduce Taiwan’s CO2 emissions even further.

Chen Bo-chun
NTU Doctoral Student
It has a special characteristic in that it readily absorbs carbon dioxide, said Chen Bo-chun, a researcher from National Taiwan University. So the current direction we are heading in with our research is whether we can replace the methane in the hydrate with carbon dioxide. If we succeed, first we will have gained a resource. Second, we will be able to reduce our CO2 emissions.

The actual size of the world’s methane hydrate reservoir remains unclear with estimates ranging from a 10th to two times the amount of carbon contained in all other fossil fuels. Japanese researchers hope to have an industrially viable method of extracting the methane by 2015. If Taiwan manages to follow suit, experts say there are enough reserves off the southeast coast to meet Taiwan’s natural gas needs for more than 60 years.