POWERING TI-IF FUTURE: METHANE HYDRATES: CLEAN ENERGY FROM THE SEA

Methane hydrates are the most abundant natural form of clathrates -unique chemical substances in which molecules of one material (in this case, water) form an open solid lattice that encloses molecules of another material (in this case, methane). During the mid 1960s it was recognized that over millions of years, vast amounts of methane hydrates were deposited along the continental margins in the ocean sediments, as well as along the permafrost regions in Alaska, Canada, and Russia. Locations of large methane hydrate deposits are shown in Fig. 1. These deposits are byproducts of microbial decomposition of organic matter distributed worldwide where the temperature/pressure combination is suitable for solid hydrate formation. The amount of organic carbon contained in the earth's crust as methane hydrates along the oceans and the permafrost regions is estimated to be more than twice the amount contained in recoverable and non-recoverable fossil fuel (including coal, oil, and natural gas). Figure 2 lists the distribution of organic carbon in the earth's crust.