'Dry Water' methane hydrates convert natural gas to dust

One of the problems with natural gas is that it’s necessary to store it at high pressure to use it in vehicles. A group of developers at the University of Liverpool in the UK have announced a new method to convert methane gas into a powder, effectively creating methane hydrates (pictured at the right). This makes the methane much more transportable. Their method uses a material, made out of a mixture of silica and water, that can can soak up large quantities of the gas. The gas then becomes a fine white powder that is easy to transport and use. Usually, methane hydrates are formed at a very slow rate, but their method uses water broken into tiny droplets to increase the surface area that interacts with and captures the gas.

By Xavier.Navarro@weblogsinc.com
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One of the problems with natural gas is that it’s necessary to store it at high pressure to use it in vehicles. A group of developers at the University of Liverpool in the UK have announced a new method to convert methane gas into a powder, effectively creating methane hydrates (pictured at the right). This makes the methane much more transportable. Their method uses a material, made out of a mixture of silica and water, that can can soak up large quantities of the gas. The gas then becomes a fine white powder that is easy to transport and use. Usually, methane hydrates are formed at a very slow rate, but their method uses water broken into tiny droplets to increase the surface area that interacts with and captures the gas.
[Source: NGV]