It reached +30°C (86.5°F) in the Arctic today. Hotter than pretty much all of Europe right now. Truly exceptional for any time of the year but mind-boggling for May. Velsky District (Russian: Ве́льский райо́н) now 33°C. The reason, a new source of energy: methane hydrate, a crystalline form of natural gas found in Arctic permafrost. At room temperature the crystal gives off intense heat, earning it the nickname of "fire in ice," and making the estimated 700,000 trillion cubic feet of the substance scattered around the world a potentially major fuel source, containing more energy than all previously discovered oil and gas combined.
Not only Russians do research. Last year, ConocoPhillips worked with the DOE on a test run-producing natural gas from methane hydrate in Alaska's North Slope, home to about 85 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable methane hydrate, according to DOE statistics. The company spent 13 days injecting carbon dioxide and nitrogen into methane-hydrate clusters in the permafrost. The chemical cocktail fractures the permafrost, allowing the gas to escape through the newly made fractures for collection.
No one even knew that hydrates existed in nature. Fossil fuel companies started injecting water, sand, and chemicals into shale rocks to split them apart and suck the natural gas out of the cracks. Soon they came to realize there is a ridiculous amount of the stuff. Unlike with fracking, no chemicals are involved with hydrate extraction: just methane and water. It's in the photo is a piece of methane hydrate found by U.S. scientists off the coast of Oregon. Of course, all of this is easier to do at normal temperatures, so we go back to the beginning of my post.
Na sjevernoj padini Aljaske ili u Sibiru lakše je frakirati na normalnim temperaturama, kao što je u Lici lakše saditi krumpire kad nema leda. Metan hidrati, pronađeni u permafrostu, imaju velik potencijal kao budući izvor energije. Konvencionalni proizvodni načini do sada su imali loše rezultate, ali onda su znanstvenici otkrili učinkovit način proizvodnje kombiniranjem hidrauličkog lomljenja iz vodoravnih bušotina i cirkulacije vruče vode kroz lomove. E sad, svima, ali baš svima u industriji odgovara da se Sibir, Aljaska, pa i cijeli Arktik zagrije bar za 10 °C da je ekipi lakše raditi i da troše manje love na opremu za frakiranje. Pojednostavljeno, princip je da se sve toplija i toplija voda pušta kroz pukotine da bi se došlo do metan hidrata. Počinje se s upumpavanjem vode u sediment od 10°C, pa se kroz nekoliko mjeseci diže do 50°C, da bi na kraju, ako se želi što bolji rezultat i što više metan hidrata izvući, voda zagrijava do točke vrenja. Za razliku od Antarktika, na Artiku ne važe nikakva posebna pravila pa je sada gore Wild Wild North, svatko radi što ga volja. Dok se mi sjetimo i shvatimo što se događa, po Artiku će već tratinčice rasti. Malo ćemo pričekati, ali nakon toga na red dolazi Antartika. Zeljko Serdar
