Views on Methane Hydrate for Zero-Emission Energy

• Published in: Energy & Environment
• Main Author: Kikuchi, Ryunosuke
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2002
• Subjects: Energy (miscellaneous); Energy Engineering and Power Technology; Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment; Environmental Engineering; Methane hydrate
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1260/0958305021501100; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1260/0958305021501100

Application of a fuel cell whose energy source is hydrogen and oxygen is considered useful and even desirable, but hydrogen is not easy to obtain. Though methane hydrate reserves are abundant and are distributed worldwide, they have not yet been well utilized. This paper discusses the concept of devising a practical fuel cell by combining the idea of applying a catalyst to fuel cells with a proposal for developing methane hydrate reserves in order to reduce the dependence on current fossil fuels and cut polluting emissions. Even if the methane hydrate exploitation should not prove feasible, the use of a chemical reaction converting methane to hydrogen without greenhouse gas formation would be extremely beneficial because natural gas consists primarily of methane, and worldwide application of the proposed catalytic process can reduce significantly the generation of greenhouse gases.