Hydrate Pellet Production Begins

Mitsui Engineering and Ship Building Co., Ltd. (MES) has begun production of frozen natural gas hydrate pellets. By forming hydrate into frozen pellets, known as "burning ice," MEI claims that hydrate can be stored in tanks and transported easily.

MES has started operations of a test facility that can keep the pellets colder than minus-ten degrees Celsius, as well as a production facility for the spherical pellets. The company will study production and storage conditions for several years, and later plans to start full-scale sales of production facilities to oil companies. Hydrate is obtained by covering the methane molecule, a primary constituent of natural gas, with water molecules, and is more cost-effective in storage and transportation than the conventional liquefied natural gas (LNG) method, which requires large-scale refining facilities.



Posted: 2002/08/26 03:33:04 PM
Japanese version