Methane is one of the most important energy resources of our time. However, it is highly flammable and volatile, which is why methane storage and transportation require complex and expensive technologies, such as liquefaction and compression.
An alternative storage method could be the use of methane hydrates, crystalline compounds in which gas molecules are enclosed in cells made up of water molecules in the form of ice. This method has not found wide industrial application until now, since hydrate formation takes more time than gas liquefaction, and hydrates are destroyed as a result of heating or pressure reduction. A new international scientific development could make this production method more economically viable.
The press service of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) reports that scientists from Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Iran’s University of Bojnord and China’s Henan University of Technology have developed an eco-friendly surfactant based on castor oil and oleic acid. It significantly improves the efficiency of formation of stable crystal hydrates capable of storing methane for 15 days at subzero temperatures. This makes it possible to make methane transportation safe and eco-friendly. The results of the scientific study, which was supported by a grant from the RSF, have been published in the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science.
“Our study will help improve and scale up methane storage technologies, making them more environmentally sustainable and efficient,” said project leader Abdolreza Farhadian representing Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University.
