Within the SUGAR project, we developed novel methods to produce methane gas from marine gas hydrate deposits. Our particular focus lies on a production technology that is overall CO2-neutral, i.e., we intend to liberate the CH4 by subjecting the gas hydrate in the sediment matrix to liquid or supercritical CO2.
In the ECO2 project and STEMM-CCS project we studied under which conditions CO2 hydrate formation can mitigate the potential risk of leakage from a sub-marine storage unit by self-sealing of the pathway. In general, CO2 may form gas hydrates already in a water depth of 300 m and a temperature of 5 °C.
In our high-pressure lab, we investigate the gas hydrate reactions on the molecular and pore scale using Raman spectroscopy & NMR tomography as well as in pressure reactors with volumes of a few litres (NESSI). Experimental data are analyzed by state-of-the-art thermodynamic and transport-reaction modeling to derive process parameters that cannot be measured directly and to devise the future experiments.
