Hollow Silica: A novel Material for Methane Storage

• Published in: Oil & Gas Science and Technology – Revue d’IFP Energies nouvelles
• Main Authors: Chari Vangala Dhanunjana, Prasad Pinnelli S.R., Murthy Sarabu Ramana
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; French
• Published: EDP Sciences 2015
• Subjects: Chemical technology; TP1-1185; Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade; HD9502-9502.5; Methane hydrate
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2516/ogst/2014019; https://doaj.org/article/7a2ab8b6077344ba9069bcbe05cceb91

Methane gas storage in the form of Methane Hydrate (MH) in hollow silica was studied and compared with solid silica and pure water systems. The gas hydrate growth/dissociation was monitored by following the pressure (gas intake) – temperature variations in a classical isochoric process. The effect of stirring on the hydrate formation kinetics and yield was clearly evidenced in the case of solid and pure water systems, whereas it did not show any influence in hollow silica; and in fact, the yields remained identical in both stirring and non-stirring experiments. Approximately 3.6 m.mol of methane per gram of water was consumed as MH in the hollow silica matrix and the formation kinetics was extremely fast (~180 min). However, the methane gas conversion into MH in solid silica and pure water systems was ~ 10 times higher in a stirred reactor when compared with a non-stirred system.