We know that oil is a non-renewable resource. The development of world science and technology consumes a large amount of oil energy and will be exhausted in the near future. With the increasing scarcity of energy in the world, the new energy of combustible ice is gradually becoming a hot topic of concern to countries around the world.
data shows that the world's combustible ice reserves have reached 1.5×10^16 cubic meters, and the heat it releases is several times that of natural gas . According to the data, if combustible ice can be commercially exploited, only 15% of the reserves can be used to supply global energy consumption for 200 years. From this point of view, combustible ice does have the potential to replace oil. Because the current data shows that the combustible ice reserves here are very large, 2x1016 cubic meters of combustible ice have been found, which can supply human needs for a thousand years.
So, what is combustible ice?
Combustible ice is also called natural gas hydrate . It is formed at a low temperature with high pressure, during which both natural gas and water are converted into crystals. You know, the name of combustible ice sometimes makes people mistakenly think of it as "ice cube", but in fact it just looks no different from ice. But it's not ice.
combustible ice can not only burn directly like alcohol, but also produce a lot of energy. In fact, this thing is similar to the natural gas we use. The only difference is that it has a higher density and is also "pure". In this case, "clean and efficient" can be achieved.
From this we can see that combustible ice is a rare good thing. So is there combustible ice in our country?
Relevant information shows that my country has a very rich reserve of combustible ice and is also ranked first in the world. Most of the combustible ice in my country is concentrated in the frozen lands of East China Sea , South China Sea , and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau , and flammable ice also exists in the frozen land areas in the northeast. As early as 2017, my country started our country's combustible ice exploration path in the South China Sea. As of 2018, all combustible ice found totaled 84 megacube meters, of which the reserves of Zhongnanhai were 65 megacube meters.
Until 2020, my country conducted another exploration of combustible ice in the South China Sea and broke two world records.
Combustible ice is so useful and has such rich reserves, why don’t you see any usefulness in your life?
First of all, the collection and storage technology of combustible ice is not yet perfect. Flammable ice is formed at high pressure and low temperatures, and its stability is very poor at room temperature.
Technically, our country has conducted two tests of combustible ice at sea and sampling work in the Qilian Mountains frozen soil area, but the technology has not yet been fully mature. Not only my country, but also the global mining of combustible ice is being explored.
Currently commonly used mining methods include: reduced pressure mining method, chemical reagent mining method, heat injection mining method, etc. The decompression mining method is used in my country. This method mainly decomposes combustible ice through compressed air. Although it is feasible in actual operation, it may also affect the release of gas due to the sand in seawater. This is also a problem encountered in Japan before mining.
Secondly, it is the cost of mining. The reserves and advantages of combustible ice do make us urgently need development. However, China is still in the early stage of development, and the cost of mining is very high. According to statistics, 1 cubic meter of flammable ice costs about 1,300 yuan.
In addition, when combustible ice is mined, it will cause various accidents due to its instability. These instability will cause the leakage of methane , affecting the earth's ecology. The power of methane is much greater than that of carbon dioxide . If it is accidentally developed, methane will make the earth's greenhouse effect more serious. Therefore, it still takes some time to use combustible ice on a large scale.
