Question

Much of the world’s natural gas is stored in permafrost and in deep cold ocean bed deposits as methane hydrate, also called methane clathrate or, inaccurately, methane ice. Methane hydrate is an ice-like crystal in which individual molecules of methane are enclosed in a crystalline “cage” structure formed from frozen water molecules (and sometimes clays). The composition of methane hydrate is 1 mole of methane to 5.75 moles water. In clathrate deposits containing methane hydrates, around 1% by weight of the deposit is the hydrate and the remaining 99%, minerals and regular water ice. What mass of methane is released by warming 1 kg of a typical clathrate deposit?

Answer 1