Associated petroleum gas is wasted in the billions of cubic meters every year in many countries. Existing liquefied gas technology is only viable on very large volumes, so it's not always a solution.
An alternative was put forth by Kazan Federal University. The gist of the method is to produce accelerated methane hydrate by mixing water and natural gas under high pressure and low temperature.
Head of Rheological and Thermochemical Research Lab Mikhail Varfolomeev comments, "The advantage of this way is that it's more environmentally friendly than liquefied gas and also safer because a mix with water is less explosive. Moreover, it's cheaper to store and transport this hydrate. Previously, hydrate technology was rather time-consuming. Our researchers synthesized ethylene diamine tetraacetamide (EDTAM), which helps speed up hydrate formation. This is the basis for future hydrate technology of storage and transportation of associated gas and natural gas."
The research is conducted together with ENSTA ParisTech. The French side has a gas transportation simulator.
The solution may prove to be of great interest to the major petroleum and natural gas companies in Russia.
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Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research