USGS opens hydrate high-pressure core lab

The U.S. Geological Survey has opened a new laboratory for studying the characteristics of methane hydrate core samples that are maintained under high pressure conditions. The USGS Hydrate Pressure Core Analysis Laboratory is located in the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, the agency has announced.

In addition to maintaining the pressure of the cores, refrigeration at the lab maintains the cores at appropriate low temperatures. The idea is to be able to investigate the properties of the hydrates when in similar pressure and temperature conditions to those that exist in the naturally occurring hydrate deposits from which the cores were obtained. Special containers are used to transport the cores to the laboratory at the appropriate pressure and temperature conditions.

Methane hydrate, a solid material consisting of methane molecules trapped in a lattice of water molecules, is stable within a certain range of relatively high pressures and low temperatures. The material occurs in huge quantities below permafrost and on or below the ocean floor in many parts of the world. With methane being the primary component of natural gas, scientists are interested in the possibility of using some methane hydrate deposits as a source of natural gas for fuel.

Scientists at the new laboratory have been analyzing hydrate samples gathered from sediments in the Bay of Bengal, offshore India, the USGS said.

In a recent talk to the Alaska Geological Society, Tim Collett, a USGS methane hydrate expert, said that research using hydrate pressure cores was providing new insights into the permeability of natural hydrate reservoirs, the permeability being a key parameter in the practicalities of producing gas from the hydrates.

- ALAN BAILEY