Combustible ice, angel or devil?

Combustible ice is a natural gas hydrate, which is an ice-like crystalline substance formed by natural gas and water at high pressure and low temperature. It is widely distributed in deep-sea sediments or terrestrial permafrost. It is also called "combustible ice" because it looks like ice and can burn in case of fire. In fact, combustible ice is a solid block. Combustible ice is widely distributed in the permafrost of the mainland, the slopes of islands, the uplift of active and passive continental margins, the polar continental shelf and the deep water environment of oceans and some inland lakes.

1, China has been the first in the world in the research of combustible ice mining.

From June to September of 20 13, China drilled high-purity natural gas hydrate samples for the first time in the eastern waters of the Pearl River Mouth Basin along the coast of Guangdong, and obtained considerable controlled reserves through drilling. On February 1 day, 2004, the basic research on gas hydrate enrichment law and exploitation in the South China Sea passed the acceptance test, and the theory of "combustible ice" basic research system in the South China Sea of China was established. From 2065438 to May 2007, the first trial production of natural gas hydrate (combustible ice) in China was successful. 2017165438+13 October, the State Council officially approved the listing of natural gas hydrate as a new mineral.

2065438+July 9, 2007, the South China Sea natural gas hydrate trial production project organized and implemented by China Geological Survey of the Ministry of Land and Resources has been continuously tested for 60 days, with a cumulative gas production of more than 300,000 cubic meters. The South China Sea natural gas hydrate trial production project has completely achieved the expected goal. The trial production, gas production and field test research of the first well have achieved complete success, and the well has been shut in.

This trial production adopts the solid fluidized pilot production technology of Southwest Petroleum University. This trial production is the first time in the world, and it is also the first time in the world to successfully realize the safe and controllable exploitation of argillaceous silty natural gas hydrate, which accounts for more than 90% of the world's resources and is the most difficult to develop. This shows that China has made a breakthrough in the new technology of solid-state fluidized mining of marine "combustible ice", which is the only one with completely independent intellectual property rights, making China a country that has independently mastered the trial mining technology and tools of marine "combustible ice".

2. China combustible ice reserves and their utilization value.

The natural gas hydrate resources in China sea area are about 80 billion tons of oil equivalent, the natural gas hydrate resources in China sea area are about 100 trillion cubic meters, and the resources in South China Sea are 85 trillion cubic meters, which is more than 2. 1 times of the national conventional natural gas reserves.

The energy density of combustible ice is very high. Under the same conditions, the energy generated by combustible ice combustion is 10 times that of coal, oil and natural gas. 1 m3 combustible ice can release 164 m3 natural gas. The characteristics of combustible ice may become a clean energy source to replace oil in the future.

3, the risk of combustible ice mining:

Most marine gas hydrate occurrence areas are characterized by shallow burial, loose deposits, weak or loose cementation, instability, no tight caprock and no well-developed source, reservoir and cap rocks (non-diagenetic gas hydrate accounts for more than 85%). If the depressurization method is used for long-term exploitation, the disorder and uncontrollable decomposition of hydrate will face five major risks:

(1) A large amount of mud and sand enters the well, resulting in blockage and shutdown;

(2) A large amount of decomposed natural gas escapes into seawater, resulting in waste of resources, low gas recovery rate and low output;

(3) The deformation of the seabed structure leads to the instability and out-of-control of production equipment, resulting in production safety hazards;

(4) A large amount of escaping natural gas freely expands and rises, causing disasters to ships at sea and destroying marine ecology, and a large amount of natural gas enters the atmosphere to produce greenhouse effect;

(5) After long-term mining, the hydrate ore body collapses and collapses, resulting in stratum instability and submarine landslide.

The reserves and utilization value of combustible ice are very large, so now more than 80 countries around the world are studying how to exploit and utilize combustible ice efficiently. Of course, while combustible ice brings new energy prospects to replace oil, it may also be a very serious challenge to the living environment of human beings if it is not mined reasonably.

At present, China has achieved a global lead in the theoretical research and exploitation of combustible ice. How to accelerate the industrial large-scale exploitation and application of combustible ice in the next step? At present, the relevant theoretical research, technology research and development and development experiments of combustible ice in China are in full swing.

Thanks for reading, thank you!

Combustible ice is a mixture of ice and methane. There are huge reserves on the earth, which are distributed in all parts of the world. If mining technology can break through, many countries will change the status quo of energy shortage. However, whether combustible ice is the hope of energy or a scam is still a question.

What is combustible ice?

Combustible ice has long been discovered by geologists. In the arctic frozen zone, there is a lot of methane ice. Methane gas is very common. In nature, whether plants rot or animals rot, a large amount of methane gas will be released. Methane gas is also the main component of combustible gases such as biogas and coal gas. If methane gas produced by animals and plants or the earth is frozen in ice before being released into the atmosphere, it is easy to form combustible ice.

What are the difficulties in the development and utilization of combustible ice?

Based on the current situation of global energy shortage, the research on combustible ice has been put on the agenda in recent twenty years. Since 2000, the United States has carried out comprehensive research on the exploitation and utilization technology of combustible ice, which has aroused the interest of various countries in obtaining this new energy. It turns out that more and more countries have invested heavily in the research on the exploitation and utilization of combustible ice. But at present, the instability of combustible ice is still the biggest development limitation. In the process of mining, it is necessary to keep combustible ice in a stable frozen state, which brings difficulties to large-scale mining. How to avoid the natural release of methane gas during mining and how to collect the released gas better are all problems that need to be overcome.

What are the adverse consequences of combustible ice mining?

Unscientific exploitation of combustible ice will have a negative impact on the global environment. First of all, the collection of combustible ice on the seabed will directly lead to the collapse of the seabed structure, resulting in submarine landslides and destroying the geological structure of the continental shelf. Secondly, the burning of combustible ice will also produce problems such as greenhouse effect. Finally, it should be mentioned that the impact of a large amount of methane released during mining on the atmospheric environment and human survival is still unknown. Moreover, the study found that 50 million years ago, a large-scale methane release caused great changes in the global climate and the extinction of a large number of organisms.

Is China leading in combustible ice mining technology at present?

Countries have begun to compete for the use of combustible ice. The United States has conducted trial mining in the Gulf of Mexico, and Japan has also conducted many trial mining studies. However, China has realized the experimental exploitation of combustible ice in the South China Sea, and its technical level is currently ahead of the global exploitation of combustible ice. However, this is only the first step of the long March. At present, scientific research and technical personnel are still needed to tackle key problems before large-scale safe mining and commercial application.

Welcome to comment on the quantum laboratory.

I'm glad to answer your question.

This year, China successfully tried to mine combustible ice in the South China Sea, which also made great contributions to the application of new energy for mankind. The scientific name of combustible ice is actually "natural gas hydrate", which was discovered in the laboratory at the beginning of 19 century. After 1930s, the Soviet Union, the United States and Japan began to study it one after another. After 2000, more than 30 countries and regions around the world have been studying it, and China also started to set up a project to study natural gas hydrate around 2000. Although the research time is not long, the progress of the research is really fast.

There are so many countries and regions willing to study this substance, which shows that it must be beneficial and has great benefits.

Natural gas hydrate is also called "combustible ice" because it looks like ice, but it can burn when it meets fire.

The place where it exists is generally in the deep sea or frozen soil. Under the conditions of low temperature and high pressure, natural gas and water will form a substance very similar to ice. The greater the pressure, the more stable the hydrate will be. Deep sea or frozen soil environment can easily meet the conditions of low temperature and high pressure.

Why is everyone working on combustible ice?

Because this is a great energy, an angel in the energy field.

Combustible ice will hardly have any residue after burning, and a large amount of methane gas can be obtained, which is a very clean and efficient energy source. Today, people pay more and more attention to environmental pollution, which is very important.

However, everything has advantages and disadvantages. In some ways, combustible ice may really exist as a demon.

Combustible ice contains a lot of methane, which can provide a lot of energy, but like carbon dioxide, methane is also a greenhouse gas. Once methane leaks into the atmosphere during mining, it may bring great harm to the atmospheric environment.

Therefore, whether combustible ice is an angel or a devil depends on how human beings exploit and use it.

Oil has long occupied a major position in the economic and military fields. China needs to spend a lot of money to import oil resources every year. However, with the exhaustion of oil resources and the strengthening of people's awareness of environmental protection, countries all over the world are forced to actively seek alternative energy sources. Not long ago, China discovered the so-called "second oil" in the South China Sea. It is estimated that the reserve of this "second oil" is equivalent to 80 billion tons of oil. If calculated according to the current mining amount, it can be used for us for at least 3000 years. Some people want to know, what kind of energy is that?

In fact, the "second oil" is what people often say about combustible ice. Because the burning of combustible ice can release a lot of energy, and it will not cause waste gas pollution like oil after burning. Therefore, it is the darling of all kinds of competing development in the world.

When we found a large number of super treasures in the South China Sea, the countries around the South China Sea looked at these treasures and were eager to grab them. However, the exploitation technology of combustible ice is very difficult, so they arbitrarily exaggerate the potential of combustible ice and attract more countries to steal our combustible ice from the South China Sea.

Although our research time on combustible ice lags far behind that of the United States and Japan, we are trying to catch up and have made great progress in recent years. In 20 17, our drilling platform continuously exploited combustible ice for 42 days, becoming a leader in the industry. This makes the United States, Japan and other countries that developed combustible ice mining technology earlier feel scared, because once they really master the continuous mining technology of combustible ice, who will occupy a favorable position in the next energy revolution. In addition, combustible ice equivalent to 35 billion tons of oil has been found under permafrost in China. According to current statistics, China ranks first in the world in combustible ice reserves. This is great good news for China, where energy is scarce at present.

However, it is obviously impossible for China to safely exploit combustible ice in the South China Sea, because there are countries full of interests such as the United States and Japan as stirring rods in the South China Sea. But in order to solve the problem of our energy demand, we should find reasonable ways to protect our super treasure from being taken away by others.

Combustible ice, scientific name of natural gas hydrate, its chemical formula is CH4·8H2O. It is a clean new energy source in the future. As early as 1778, British chemist Pudley began to study the temperature and pressure of gas hydrate. 1934, people found the phenomenon of ice-like solid blocking in oil and gas pipelines and processing equipment. These solids are either ice or what people now call combustible ice. 1965, Soviet scientists predicted that there might be natural gas hydrate on the surface of the ocean bottom. Later, people finally found a large amount of combustible ice at the bottom of the Arctic for the first time.

Combustible ice is distributed in deep-sea sediments or permafrost on land. It is an ice-like crystalline substance formed by natural gas and water at high pressure and low temperature. After combustion, only a small amount of carbon dioxide and water will be produced, which is much less polluted than coal, oil and natural gas, but the energy is ten times higher.

How is combustible ice formed? At low temperature and high pressure (about zero, which can be formed at 30 atmospheric pressure), methane, the main component of natural gas, is wrapped in water (dumpling skin) like dumpling stuffing and put into the refrigerator with permanent seabed and land permafrost layer. The organic matter deposited on the seabed, which is rich in carbon, can be biotransformed and can produce sufficient alkane gas source. The seabed stratum is a porous medium, and in this way, this magical jiaozi gathers more and more here. This kind of material, which is scattered all over the world and has an estimated reserve of 700 trillion cubic feet, has thus become a potential huge fuel source, and its total energy exceeds the sum of all oil and natural gas previously discovered. Enough for global human use 1000 years.

But it is worth noting that combustible ice is both a resource and a super disaster. If it is not handled properly, methane gas will be released into the atmosphere from seawater, which will make the global greenhouse effect more serious. In addition, large-scale exploitation of the seabed may also destroy the stable balance of the crust. It caused the instability of the continental shelf edge, led to the collapse of the seabed, and even triggered a large-scale tsunami, with disastrous consequences.

According to estimates, under the permafrost regions in China, the resources of combustible ice are equivalent to 35 billion tons of oil, while the oil reserves are 6 billion tons, which has great potential. After 10 years of technical research, the research team of Jilin University in China has developed the key technology of cold drilling and thermal recovery of onshore natural gas hydrate, which has filled the gap in this field in China and reached the international advanced level as a whole. In addition, this technology also won the second prize of 20 16 National Technology Invention Award.

Combustible ice, as its name implies, is a substance that looks like ice but can burn. In essence, it is an inclusion compound formed by locking methane molecules in a polygonal cage structure composed of water molecules, which will become carbon dioxide and water after full combustion. Combustible ice is easy to exist in low temperature and high pressure environment, and is generally hidden under the seabed, frozen soil and polar circle on the earth.

18 10 British chemist David first discovered clathrate hydrate, namely combustible ice, in the laboratory; /kloc-in the winter of 0/934, an oil pipeline in the Soviet Union was blocked, and many solid substances (combustible ice) were found in the pipeline during maintenance. 1965, Soviet scientists discovered a large amount of combustible ice in rock pores while drilling in the Arctic seabed at a depth of1450m, which was the first time that people really realized combustible ice.

Combustible ice has many advantages over oil. Combustible ice will only leave a pool of water and carbon dioxide gas in the end, which is a clean energy source. Petroleum is a mixture of alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatic hydrocarbons, which will produce some harmful gases after combustion, such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and nitrogen oxides have different degrees of toxicity; Burning a lot of coal will form dust, and living in a dust environment for a long time will cause pneumoconiosis or cancer. It seems that combustible ice is really excellent.

An important index to judge fuel quality is calorific value. The data show that the calorific value of petroleum is 4 1.87 MJ/kg, that of combustible ice is 38.97 MJ/kg, and that of raw coal is 20.93 MJ/kg. Combustible ice and oil are basically in the same grade. China has amazing combustible ice reserves, mainly distributed in the South China Sea, with a resource reserve of 654.38+05 billion cubic meters, accounting for 70% of the world's combustible ice reserves. Last year, China completed the stable exploitation of combustible ice in the South China Sea for the first time. In the future, we will completely get rid of the disadvantage of relying on oil energy imports and supply energy independently.

Although combustible ice has many benefits, it also has certain harm. First of all, the seabed environment is unstable, and mining may destroy the stability of the earth's crust, cause the continental margin to oscillate, and cause the seabed to collapse; Between Permian and Triassic, there was a mass extinction event on the earth. Many scientists believe that global warming and lack of oxygen caused by volcanic eruption and underground combustible ice injection are the main culprits of species extinction. The technology of exploiting underground and seabed combustible ice and environmental protection technology are not advanced. When the temperature rises during mining, combustible ice may be converted into methane gas, which will seriously damage the ecological environment. The consequences are unimaginable.

I'm glad to answer your question.

Combustible ice is natural gas hydrate. It is the molecular bonds between water molecules that connect with each other to form a physically stable triangular cone, that is, the shape of a pyramid, and this "pyramid" constructed by four water molecules is full of natural gas, that is, methane.

It can be said that combustible ice is quite environmentally friendly compared with fuels such as oil.

It is inevitable that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

1. Reduce dependence on oil and over-exploitation of the earth's resources.

2. Reduce the probability of ground collapse.

But the disadvantages are also particularly obvious:

Combustible ice is much more lively and uncontrollable than oil.

It is possible that in the process of mining, a big explosion will occur, causing a wide range of casualties. The pressure problem in the mining process, a large number of combustible ice melts, water is still water, but methane floats into the air. This is a well-known greenhouse gas!

It's terrible to think about it.

Therefore, everything has two sides. In my opinion, this is an angel with a devil side!

It takes about 0.3KB of traffic, hahahahaha.

After all, am I hot ~

Combustible ice, white or light gray ice crystal, scientific name natural gas hydrate, is an ice-like mixture formed by natural gas and water at high pressure and low temperature. It is an efficient, clean and huge new energy.

The well-known combustible ice originated from a wave of media reports after China successfully tried to mine combustible ice in Shenhu area of South China Sea last year. At that time, combustible ice was called "energy block" in transformer, and 1 m3 of combustible ice could release more than 160 m3 of natural gas.

Combustible ice is mainly distributed in seabed and permafrost. According to the current detection situation, the global combustible ice reserves are about 2× 10 16 cubic meters, which is twice of the global coal, oil and natural gas resources. In China, combustible ice is mainly distributed in the South China Sea. At present, the proven reserves are about 654.38 billion tons.

Combustible ice is not only a large storage capacity, but also a clean energy source with great potential. The energy generated by its combustion in the same volume is dozens of times that of our common coal, oil and natural gas. Therefore, it is also regarded as a strategic alternative energy and strategic resource for oil and natural gas in the future by all countries. In this respect, combustible ice can be called an angel.

However, on another level, combustible ice has its devil side as well as angel side. The exploitation of combustible ice will release methane into the ocean or atmosphere, and the combustion process will release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, thus contributing to the greenhouse effect and promoting global warming.

In addition, combustible ice is unstable and distributed in deep-sea sediments or permafrost, so it plays an important role in the stability of sedimentary layers and even has become a part of geological layers. If it is exploited on a large scale, once it is vaporized, the sediments on the seabed will lose their stability, which will not only destroy the pipelines and mining platforms laid on the seabed by human beings, but also cause submarine landslides and even large-scale tsunamis.

The above is my humble opinion ~ welcome to discuss ~

Myth 1: combustible ice is a magical "energy block"

CCTV once reported that combustible ice is as magical as the "energy block" in Transformers. A car fueled by natural gas can run 50,000 kilometers with 100 liter of combustible ice at a time.

However, it is not the case after calculation by insiders: the content of natural gas in 100 liter combustible ice is about 16.4 cubic meters, and the calorific value is 140843 kcal, which should be 17.7 liter when converted into gasoline. Even with the current small and most fuel-efficient gasoline car, it can run up to 360 kilometers, which is far from the 50 thousand kilometers mentioned in the report.

Myth 2: Combustible ice is a kind of pollution-free clean energy.

The main component of combustible ice is methane, which only produces carbon dioxide and water after combustion. If coal is replaced, it will help solve the air pollution problem, so it is regarded as clean energy.

However, things are not that simple. Studies have shown that changes in temperature and pressure caused by natural or man-made factors can decompose hydrates, which may lead to submarine landslides and even environmental disasters such as climate warming and biological extinction. According to the so-called "combustible ice injection hypothesis", the injection of combustible ice may lead to uncontrollable warming, which will restore the earth to the Permian-Triassic dinosaur extinction period.

Myth 3: realize commercial mining in 2020

In May this year, China successfully tried to mine combustible ice in Shenhu sea area of South China Sea, setting a record of "continuous gas production for more than 22 days, with an average daily output of 8,350 cubic meters". Therefore, it is reported that combustible ice can be exploited commercially in 2020.

In fact, compared with the daily output of a gas field in Xinjiang (up to 4.9 million cubic meters), the daily output of combustible ice is 6,350 cubic meters, which is far from the real commercial exploitation. The United States and Japan are also the first countries to study the commercial exploitation of combustible ice, but the US Geological Survey believes that the results will not be seen until 2025 at the earliest, and the schedule of commercial exploitation in Japan has been postponed to 2023-2029.

Myth 4: Combustible ice will be the next shale gas revolution.

Many foreign media, such as CNN, have reported the great significance of combustible ice strategy to the energy industry, which can be compared with the shale gas revolution in the United States.

The outbreak of shale gas revolution in the United States stems from the breakthrough of two key technologies: horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. In addition, there are conditions such as the perfection of natural gas pipeline system, the fluidity of land use right transaction and the high degree of market liberalization. However, at present, there is no key breakthrough in the technology of exploiting combustible ice, and the development cost is very high (as high as $200 per cubic meter). In addition, the low global natural gas price (caused by shale gas revolution) will also affect the investment in research and development of combustible ice.

Combustible ice seems to have been destroyed by liberal arts students. These liberal arts students take it for granted that combustible ice is a kind of fuel like ice, and they think it can be put into the car fuel tank like ice. This has led to ridiculous and generous consequences.

I'm a chemistry major, and I do popular science. What is combustible ice? Combustible ice is natural gas hydrate, which is an icy substance formed by methane and water at low temperature and high pressure. When it leaves the seabed, it will vaporize and separate to form natural gas, just like carbon dioxide-dry ice can be formed at 75 degrees, but it is still gaseous at room temperature.

Therefore, the so-called combustible ice is mainly transported and stored by natural gas. I hope we don't joke.

As for the energy of combustible ice is dozens of times that of coal gasoline, it is even more ridiculous. According to the molecular formula, the calorific value can be calculated. The calorific value of combustible ice can never be greater than that of coal, natural gas and gasoline. , only 1/3-5 gasoline or natural gas, or even lower. That is to say, the burning energy of 10 kg of combustible ice is only 1-3 kg of gasoline. The reason is that water in combustible ice does not produce energy, but accounts for weight. Therefore, the calculation of calorific value of combustible ice removes water. For example, the water content is 60%, and the calorific value of combustible ice is 40% of equivalent natural gas. The specific water content can be found in the literature. I won't be too verbose.