Chinese scientists succeed in mining combustible ice
May 22, 2017 Category Science & technology, Weekly
Chinese experts have succeeded in collecting samples of “combustible ice” in the South China Sea, a major breakthrough that may lead to a global energy revolution, Land and Resources Minister Jiang Daming said. China’s first success in mining flammable ice at sea came after nearly two decades of research and exploration. Combustible ice usually exists in seabed or tundra areas, which have the strong pressure and low temperature necessary for its stability. It can be ignited like solid ethanol and a cubic meter of the natural gas hydrate is equal to 164 cubic meters of regular natural gas. China began its research in 1998 and flammable ice was found in the South China Sea in 2007. Trial mining started on March 28 and experts first tapped the natural gas hydrate at a depth of 1,266 meters on May 17. Natural gas hydrate is an efficient, abundant and clean energy resource and strategically important for future global energy development as a replacement for oil and natural gas. Zhong Ziran, head of the China Geological Survey Bureau, said combustible ice is more environmentally-friendly and large reserves of it exist, the Shanghai Daily reports.
The drilling in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea was performed by the China International Marine Containers Group and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), using Blue Whale 1, an ultra deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig built by China Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore. The new energy is also known as marine natural gas hydrate. The test production has reached a steady output, yielding 113,200 cubic meters of natural gas over seven days, with average daily production of just over 16,000 cu m. It releases less than half the amount of carbon dioxide when burned compared to oil and coal. Some researchers have estimated the global reserves of methane hydrate are twice as large as those of other known fossil fuels, enough for human consumption for 1,000 years. For China, they account for half the country’s total oil and natural gas reserves on land.
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