Arctic's 'fiery ice' is potential new energy source

The Gazette, 15 November 2010 On the upside, hydrates are said to contain more energy than all other fossil fuels combined, and are much cleaner than oil and coal. Global estimates "range from merely jaw-dropping to the truly staggering," according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Canada is believed to have enough hydrates along its coasts to meet the country's energy needs for a couple of hundred years. For the Japanese, drilling down through Arctic permafrost to get at "fiery ice" was much less daunting than boring into the deep sea. They came up with $48 million -- with $3 million from Canada -- for an epic experiment in the Northwest Territories that has generated tantalizing evidence, to be detailed in Tokyo this week, that frozen gas hydrates may live up to their billing as a plentiful new energy source. The Canadian and Japanese team will describe how they got the hydrates to release gas, like bubbles out of champagne. In a world first, the team got a production well to generate a steady flow of gas for six days, fuelling a flame in the Arctic darkness. "The message is quite clear, you can produce gas hydrates using conventional techniques," says Scott Dallimore, a senior scientist at Natural Resources Canada, who co-led the project in the Mackenzie Delta. Over two winters the researchers drilled down more than a kilometre into a 150-metre-thick layer on the edge of the Beaufort Sea at Mallik -- the most concentrated known deposit of the frozen fuel in the world. "It's a landmark, no doubt about it," says Ray Boswell, technical manager of the U.S. government's gas hydrate program. Boswell will be taking close notes Tuesday as Dallimore and his Japanese colleagues describe how the well and hydrates responded as the gas was freed. Previous experiments have produced gas from hydrates for a few hours. Mallik's steady, sustained flow for six days "is very good news," says Boswell, who is optimistic gas hydrates may one day heat homes and fuel vehicles. Hydrates occur in vast quantities under the oceans and permafrost, where tremendous pressure traps gas in tiny cages or crystals made of water molecules. When brought to the surface the cages melt, releasing methane gas that will burn if lit with a match, generating "fiery ice" -- a potential energy source that has long intrigued researchers. The volatile energy source has traditionally been a nuisance for drilling operations and folks poking around deep water. A decade ago, B.C. fishermen were startled when they dredged up a huge chunk of icebound hydrates off the coast of Vancouver Island. It fizzed like a giant Bromo-Seltzer as it reached the surface and released flammable methane gas. There are also concerns about its environmental impacts and the possibility of "burps of death" as the planet warms -- the fear being some hydrate deposits might melt releasing huge amounts of methane -- a potent greenhouse gas -- that could then speed up global warming. On the upside, hydrates are said to contain more energy than all other fossil fuels combined, and are much cleaner than oil and coal. Global estimates "range from merely jaw-dropping to the truly staggering," according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Canada is believed to have enough hydrates along its coasts to meet the country's energy needs for a couple of hundred years. Full story