The proposed 3-day worshop (to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, February 23-26, 2014) focuses on the combustion of methane hydrate and CO2 sequestration under the deep-ocean condition, where high-pressures and high-temperature combustion takes place involing multiphase fuel-oxygen-nitrogen environment. It will have participation from US and Pacific Rim researchers while involving 5 US graduate students and/or post-doctoral fellows. The requested fund is used exclusively for supporting these students. The educational impact and the benefit of preparating next generation researchers and engineers are significant.
NSF Support for PacRim Workshop on Deep Ocean Power Science This project was a small supplementary award to cover the cost of travel for some graduate students and young post-doctoral researchers to attend a unique workshop exploring Deep Ocean Power Science, and particularly the potential future role that hydrates might play in energy-related aspects of the deep ocean. It is now well-recognized that a major storehouse of methane resides in deep ocean hydrates (i.e., ice cages with methane molecules trapped inside) and it is also well-recognized that these hydrates exist in many parts of the world, making them an energy resource for many nations without other fossil fuel alternatives. What is not well-understood is the potential for utilizing these hydrates for power generation. In addition, the deep ocean temperature and pressure environment is ideal for the formation of carbon-dioxide hydrates, and this might provide a means for sequestering carbon in order to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. The workshop explored these issues from a multi-disciplinary and international scientific and technical perspective. The workshop was held in Honolulu, Hawaii (at the center of the Pacific) and included 22 participants from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the United States. It covered fundamental and practical aspects of hydrate science. Half of the participants were student or young researchers. The workshop comprised invited lectures, research summaries, and a poster session. As the first of its kind, the workshop successfully identified important next steps in research into the combustion of methane hydrates and the opportunities for carbon-dioxide sequestration in hydrates. A follow-on workshop is being developed.
