The first experience the transportation of deep-water methane hydrates in a container

Abstract

Deep-water experiments on the transportation of collected samples of methane hydrates from a lake’s bottom to a support container were carried out as part of the MIRY na Baikale (2008–2009) expedition run by the Russian Academy of Sciences. High pressures and low temperatures are necessary for gas hydrates stability. As a sample of the hydrate is lifted to the water’s surface, it intensively decomposes into water and methane gas. To reduce the decomposition, we used a container in which the hydrate’s sample occurs in a gas medium rather than in water, which results in a substantial reduction in the rate of the heat exchange. At that, the gas for the container’s filling was supplied by the hydrate itself due to its partial decomposition. To estimate the method’s efficiency, we observed the hydrate’s decomposition during lifting from a depth of 1400 m using different transportation techniques such as gas- or water-filled containers or fixing the sample in the manipulator’s arm of the submersible. The sample in the gaseous medium was the only one that was safely delivered on board the support container, while the two others completely decomposed during the transportation. It is remarkable that all the samples started to decompose simultaneously at a depth of 380 m but their decomposition occurred at different rates.