skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Methane hydrate formation in confined nanospace can surpass nature

Abstract

Natural methane hydrates are believed to be the largest source of hydrocarbons on Earth. These structures are formed in specific locations such as deep-sea sediments and the permafrost based on demanding conditions of high pressure and low temperature. We report that, by taking advantage of the confinement effects on nanopore space, synthetic methane hydrates grow under mild conditions (3.5 MPa and 2 degrees C), with faster kinetics (within minutes) than nature, fully reversibly and with a nominal stoichiometry that mimics nature. Furthermore, the formation of the hydrate structures in nanospace and their similarity to natural hydrates is confirmed using inelastic neutron scattering experiments and synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction. Our findings may be a step towards the application of a smart synthesis of methane hydrates in energy-demanding applications (for example, transportation).

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [6];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Alicante, San Vincente del Raspeig (Spain). Univ. Inst. of Materials
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Chemical and Engineering Materials Division
  3. Polytechnic Univ. of Valencia (Spain). Inst. of Chemical Technology
  4. Inst. of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), Tarragona (Spain)
  5. ALBA Light Source, Barcelona (Spain)
  6. Shinshu Univ., Nagano (Japan). Research Center for Exotic Nanocarbons
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1342661
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Citation Formats

Casco, Mirian E., Silvestre-Albero, Joaquín, Ramírez-Cuesta, Anibal J., Rey, Fernando, Jordá, Jose L., Bansode, Atul, Urakawa, Atsushi, Peral, Inma, Martínez-Escandell, Manuel, Kaneko, Katsumi, and Rodríguez-Reinoso, Francisco. Methane hydrate formation in confined nanospace can surpass nature. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1038/ncomms7432.
Casco, Mirian E., Silvestre-Albero, Joaquín, Ramírez-Cuesta, Anibal J., Rey, Fernando, Jordá, Jose L., Bansode, Atul, Urakawa, Atsushi, Peral, Inma, Martínez-Escandell, Manuel, Kaneko, Katsumi, & Rodríguez-Reinoso, Francisco. Methane hydrate formation in confined nanospace can surpass nature. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7432
Casco, Mirian E., Silvestre-Albero, Joaquín, Ramírez-Cuesta, Anibal J., Rey, Fernando, Jordá, Jose L., Bansode, Atul, Urakawa, Atsushi, Peral, Inma, Martínez-Escandell, Manuel, Kaneko, Katsumi, and Rodríguez-Reinoso, Francisco. 2015. "Methane hydrate formation in confined nanospace can surpass nature". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7432. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1342661.
@article{osti_1342661,
title = {Methane hydrate formation in confined nanospace can surpass nature},
author = {Casco, Mirian E. and Silvestre-Albero, Joaquín and Ramírez-Cuesta, Anibal J. and Rey, Fernando and Jordá, Jose L. and Bansode, Atul and Urakawa, Atsushi and Peral, Inma and Martínez-Escandell, Manuel and Kaneko, Katsumi and Rodríguez-Reinoso, Francisco},
abstractNote = {Natural methane hydrates are believed to be the largest source of hydrocarbons on Earth. These structures are formed in specific locations such as deep-sea sediments and the permafrost based on demanding conditions of high pressure and low temperature. We report that, by taking advantage of the confinement effects on nanopore space, synthetic methane hydrates grow under mild conditions (3.5 MPa and 2 degrees C), with faster kinetics (within minutes) than nature, fully reversibly and with a nominal stoichiometry that mimics nature. Furthermore, the formation of the hydrate structures in nanospace and their similarity to natural hydrates is confirmed using inelastic neutron scattering experiments and synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction. Our findings may be a step towards the application of a smart synthesis of methane hydrates in energy-demanding applications (for example, transportation).},
doi = {10.1038/ncomms7432},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1342661}, journal = {Nature Communications},
issn = {2041-1723},
number = ,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Mar 02 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Mon Mar 02 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 165 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Fundamental principles and applications of natural gas hydrates
journal, November 2003


Production of binderless activated carbon monoliths by KOH activation of carbon mesophase materials
journal, February 2008


Methane storage in advanced porous materials
journal, January 2012


A Mesoporous Metal–Organic Framework
journal, December 2009


Quantum rotations in natural methane-clathrates from the Pacific sea-floor
journal, November 1999


Diffusion-Barrier-Free Porous Carbon Monoliths as a New Form of Activated Carbon
journal, September 2012


High-Pressure Rheology of Hydrate Slurries Formed from Water-in-Oil Emulsions
journal, May 2012


Methane storage in wet carbon of tailored pore sizes
journal, October 2011


The structure of deuterated methane–hydrate
journal, September 2000


High-Pressure Methane Storage in Porous Materials: Are Carbon Materials in the Pole Position?
journal, January 2015


Kinetics of Methane Hydrate Decomposition Studied via in Situ Low Temperature X-ray Powder Diffraction
journal, April 2013


Collective Interactions of Molecules with an Interfacial Solid
journal, May 2012


Rotational and Translational Motions of Trapped Methane. Incoherent Inelastic Neutron Scattering of Methane Hydrate
journal, June 1997


Methane Hydrate and Free Gas on the Blake Ridge from Vertical Seismic Profiling
journal, September 1996


Ordered mesoporous carbide derived carbons for high pressure gas storage
journal, May 2010


Confinement in Carbon Nanospace-Induced Production of KI Nanocrystals of High-Pressure Phase
journal, July 2011


Methane Storage within Dry and Wet Active Carbons: A Comparative Study
journal, September 2003


Progress in Studies of Natural Gas Storage with Wet Adsorbents
journal, July 2010


A kinetic study of methane hydrate formation
journal, January 1983


Contribution to the Evaluation of Density of Methane Adsorbed on Activated Carbon
journal, November 2005


Methane Storage in Metal–Organic Frameworks: Current Records, Surprise Findings, and Challenges
journal, July 2013

  • Peng, Yang; Krungleviciute, Vaiva; Eryazici, Ibrahim
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 135, Issue 32, p. 11887-11894
  • https://doi.org/10.1021/ja4045289

Macroscopic Evidence of Enhanced Formation of Methane Nanohydrates in Hydrophobic Nanospaces
journal, March 1998


Optimal wetting of active carbons for methane hydrate formation
journal, May 2006


Conducting linear chains of sulphur inside carbon nanotubes
journal, July 2013


Clathrate Hydrates of Natural Gases
book, September 2007


Works referencing / citing this record:

High-Performance of Gas Hydrates in Confined Nanospace for Reversible CH 4 /CO 2 Storage
journal, June 2016


Methane Hydrate in Confined Spaces: An Alternative Storage System
journal, April 2018


Tuneable pressure effects in graphene oxide layers
journal, September 2017


Heavy oil oxidation in the nano-porous medium of synthetic opal
journal, January 2018


Constraint spaces in carbon materials
journal, January 2019


Low-cost disposable high-pressure setup for in situ X-ray experiments
journal, September 2018


Low-cost disposable high-pressure setup for in situ X-ray experiments
text, January 2018


Low-cost disposable high-pressure setup for in situ X-ray experiments
text, January 2018