SUGAR (project)

SUGAR ( Su bmarine Ga shydratlagerstätten: E r kundung, mining and transport) is a project led by the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel ( GEOMAR ). Almost 30 partners from business and science are to develop new technologies together to extract natural gas (methane) from methane hydrates in the seabed and to safely store carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) from power plants and other industrial plants in the seabed.

Funding and approval

The project was approved in summer 2008 by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). The sponsors include mechanical engineering and process engineering companies such as Linde AG , but also companies from the energy sector such as RWE Dea , Eon Ruhrgas and BASF . The federal government is supporting the project with a good ten million euros, and the companies involved are raising almost three million euros.

prehistory

The industry's long disinterest was mainly attributed to the fact that there was no shortage of natural gas. In the meantime, several Asian countries have started national activities and German industry does not want to lose touch. In addition, the climate discussion is being conducted more intensively than before. Some of the companies are less interested in methane mining, but rather in getting rid of carbon dioxide in the ocean.

structure

SUGAR was divided into three phases. The 1st and 2nd project phases have already been completed. They ran from 2008 to 2011 and from 2011 to 2014. Work on the third project phase began in autumn 2014 and ended in March 2018.

In the 2nd phase of the SUGAR project, previously developed SUGAR project approaches from July 2011 to June 2014 were further concretized in order to provide new technologies for the commercial use of gas hydrate deposits and to equip German companies for the future gas hydrates market. The project is divided into two project areas:

In project area A, new methods for localizing, exploring, measuring and monitoring gas hydrate deposits are being developed. Conventional exploration techniques can only be used to a limited extent for gas hydrates, since gas hydrates occur in much lower sediment depths and have different physical properties. Project area A includes 3 sub-projects with different tasks:

A1 Localization and monitoring of gas hydrate deposits
A2 Characterization and monitoring of gas hydrate deposits
A3 Simulation of gas hydrate accumulation in the sea floor

In project area B, technologies are being developed to produce natural gas from offshore gas hydrate deposits and at the same time store CO ₂ in the seabed. The previous work in project area B shows that economically viable natural gas production rates can only be achieved if the reservoir is activated by the addition of heat, CO ₂ and polymers and the reservoir pressure at the production well is greatly reduced at the same time. Overall, the work in area B aims to maximize the natural gas production rate and CO ₂ injection and thus enable the gas hydrate deposits to be used commercially. In order to be able to conduct specific research, area B was divided into the following 3 sub-projects

B1 Simulation of gas hydrate degradation
B2 Optimization of processes for gas hydrate degradation
B3 Development of gas hydrate deposits

Results

In contrast to natural gas, which is often found in bubble-shaped structures, the methane hydrate forms flat layers in the sand, stretching over many kilometers, which are more like coal seams in their shape. The Sugar project manager Klaus Wallmann from the Leibniz Institute IFM-Geomar in Kiel therefore sees a conveyor technology similar to coal extraction as promising. The gas flow rate can be increased if liquid carbon dioxide is pumped into the hydrate field. The gas reacts with the methane, presses it out of the source and forms a gas hydrate itself. During this reaction, heat is released, which further increases the gas flow. At the same time, this would provide a safe landfill for climate-damaging carbon dioxide. Gas hydrates with carbon dioxide are also more stable than methane hydrate. The gas remains securely bound in the sea floor. With polymers that break down the methane hydrate further, the production rate increased by a further factor of three. In the last phase of the SUGAR II project, the extraction of gas hydrates is to be tested for the first time in a test well off India. The first commercial test installations are expected in 2015.

Web links

Project website at GEOMAR

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Ute Kehse: Methane hydrates are gradually becoming interesting for industry - as energy resources, but also as landfills, tempting treasures on the seabed. In: Berliner Zeitung. September 27, 2008.
↑ ^a ^b Ralf Nestler: Energy from the ice: gigantic amounts of methane are stored in the depths of the earth. It could replace oil and gas - but mining is risky and could be devastating. In: The time. September 2, 2009.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Christine Rüth: Methane hydrate. Natural gas from the deep sea. In: Energy Perspectives. 04/2011.

[BZ-1] Ute Kehse: Methane hydrates are gradually becoming interesting for industry - as energy resources, but also as landfills, tempting treasures on the seabed. In: Berliner Zeitung. September 27, 2008.

[zt-2] Ralf Nestler: Energy from the ice: gigantic amounts of methane are stored in the depths of the earth. It could replace oil and gas - but mining is risky and could be devastating. In: The time. September 2, 2009.

[cr-3] Christine Rüth: Methane hydrate. Natural gas from the deep sea. In: Energy Perspectives. 04/2011.