May lead to a global energy revolution
China has succeeded in collecting samples of combustible ice in the South China Sea, a major breakthrough that may lead to a global energy revolution, Minister of Land and Resources Jiang Daming said Thursday.
This is China's first success in mining flammable ice at sea, after nearly two decades of research and exploration, the minister said at a trial mining site in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea Thursday, reports ShanghaiDaily.com
Combustible ice usually exists in seabed or tundra areas, which have the strong pressure and low temperature necessary for its stability. It can be ignited like solid ethanol, which is why it is called "combustible ice." An average of 16,000 cubic meters of gas with high purity was extracted each day.
Approximately one cubic meter of "combustible ice" is equal to 164 cubic meters of regular natural gas. International scientific circles have predicted that natural gas hydrate is the best replacement for oil and natural gas. Trial mining of combustible ice in the Shenhu sea, about 320 kilometers southeast of Zhuhai City in Guangdong, started on March 28. Experts first tapped natural gas hydrate at a depth of 1,266 meters underwater last Wednesday.
