Burning ice

Question:

        Ice brought up from the icy depths of the oceans burns if lighted as it contains a gas called methane . These reserves are thought to be many times the worlds oil reserves but are costly to raise up . What about burning them in situ , converting it to electricity and shipping that inland ?

Response:

The fact that these reserves lie very deep makes their exploitation difficult. The problem does not have only technical aspects. We have to take in account the economical and social conditions that currently rule the energy market. Are there cheaper sources of energy, are easy and not costy to be applied…

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Ice brought up from the icy depths of the oceans burns if lighted as > it contains a gas called methane . These reserves are thought to be > many times the worlds oil reserves but are costly to raise up . What > about burning them in situ , converting it to electricity and shipping > that inland ?

Response:

  Why do you have to raise the ice ? Why not burn it in situ and create electricity which can them be wired to shore ?

The fact that these reserves lie very deep makes their exploitation difficult. The problem does not have only technical aspects. We have t

Response:

    In order to get iced concentrates of it, you have to search really deep. The first problem could be the construction of installations for burning (I thing you mean vapourize) methatne. These have to be first of all strong enough to support the pressure of water in susch depths and strong enough to protect the personel that will manipulate any non automated devices. These, also, assume that we have the ability to create relatively large contsructions in depths more than 1 Km (we cannot make them at surface and then submerge them because we need to make them according to the relief of the sea ground).     This is a small fraction of emerging challenges that can come up with a project like this. Of cource evolution, and exaustion of current power sources (oil, coal, etc.) will make cheap-nessesary enough the exploitation of such resources of energy.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->   Why do you have to raise the ice ? Why not burn it in situ and > create electricity which can them be wired to shore ? > The fact that these reserves lie very deep makes their exploitation > difficult. The problem does not have only technical aspects. We have t

Response:

> Ice brought up from the icy depths of the oceans burns if lighted as > it contains a gas called methane . These reserves are thought to be > many times the worlds oil reserves but are costly to raise up . What > about burning them in situ , converting it to electricity and shipping > that inland ?

You would have to pump air down, plus maintain the hardware at depth. I think bringing it to the surface is the preferred option. There is no detailed mapping of undersea methane reserves, although the more that is known about them the more it seems likely that your estimate of their scale is accurate. They are also to some degree a renewable resource, in that it is constantly being created at a quite significant rate from oceanic biomass. Most undersea methane is lost fairly quickly to the atmosphere anyway, so could in theory be intercepted without increasing atmospheric CO2. The range of possible technologies that might be used to harvest these gasses, and their environmental impacts, is a field in its infancy to say the least. In my opinion all of this means that it is really too early to answer these questions, as interesting as they may be. My hunch (and that is all it is) is that very large-scale operations could be economical at today’s energy prices, but there is a LOT of R&D that would be needed to get there. Look for Asian energy companies (esp. Japan and Korea) to be in the lead. They are the most vulnerable to the whims of world energy markets, and have huge amounts of ocean at their doorsteps. Cheers

Response:

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