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“Burning Ice”- A Buried treasure…

As fossil fuel supplies won't last forever, the demand for energy increases and the whole world is looking for new sources of energy. The solution to earth’s future energy needs is the “Burning Ice”. It’s definitely not the Biodiesel, but another potential untapped energy resource, also called “Methane Ice” or technically “Methane Hydrate”. Huge reserves of natural gas (methane) thought to be twice as large as all known fossil fuel deposits on Earth, are trapped hundreds of metres beneath the earth's oceans. Over millions of years the gas, produced by bacteria feasting on carbon deposits, has been held in ice-like structures called Gas Hydrates (Methane Hydrate). To say simply, they are composed of water and highly concentrated methane (better known as natural gas).

The conformational structures are stable because of the very low temperatures and high pressures that exist below the sea bed. Methane hydrates are spread around the world. Deposits can be hundreds of yards thick. Enormous quantities are believed to lie on the United States' continental shelf, including the coast of Georgia and in the Gulf (Middle East). These deposits may become a very important fuel resource in the near future. Researchers estimate that a small area off the South-eastern coast of U.S. may contain methane hydrates equal to 30 times of its own annual consumption of natural gas. The sedimentary methane hydrate reservoir probably contains 2-10 times of the currently known reserves of conventional natural gas. This represents a potentially important future source of hydrocarbon fuel.

"Right now, there are very significant technical and financial challenges facing us before we could exploit this as a resource". Removing the gas is not only difficult but also potentially dangerous. Because methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and has a global warming potential. If large sections of the hydrate fields were to break up, massive amounts of methane could be released to the atmosphere and undersea landslides could cause Tsunamis. In spite, Scientists are looking for safe ways to tap a new and unusual source of natural gas underneath the frozen ground. Until recently, though, hydrates were seen as a drilling hazard. Methane gases trapped in ice were recently drilled by oil giants in United States. The remarkable thing is that when you ignite a piece of Methane Hydrate, it will catch on fire. It's been called "Burning ice". Scientists have recently determined how to safely bring the ice to surface without melting it. Now, scientists from around the world are waiting to conduct their own test on these pieces of strange ice and determine whether frozen grounds contain untapped, clean-burning energy.