Focus: GS-III Environment and Ecology
Introduction
- The methane hydrate deposit in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin is a rich source that will ensure adequate supplies of methane, a natural gas.
- Methane hydrate is formed when hydrogen-bonded water and methane gas come into contact at high pressures and low temperatures in oceans.
- It is estimated that one cubic meter of methane hydrate contains 160-180 cubic meters of methane.
- Even the lowest estimate of methane present in the methane hydrates in KG Basin is twice that of all fossil fuel reserves available worldwide.
Details
- A recent study conducted has found that the methane hydrate deposits are located in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin are of biogenic origin.
- The massive methane hydrate deposits of biogenic origin in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin and near the coast of Andaman and Mahanadi make it necessary to study the associated methanogenic community.
- This study has shown that methanogens under these elevated pressure and temperature conditions are well adapted to these conditions and are different in methane-producing activities.
Methane as a fuel
- Methane is used as a fuel for ovens, homes, water heaters, kilns, automobiles, turbines, and other things.
- Refined liquid methane is used as a rocket fuel, when combined with liquid oxygen.
- As the major constituent of natural gas, methane is important for electricity generation by burning it as a fuel in a gas turbine or steam generator.
- Compared to other hydrocarbon fuels, methane produces less carbon dioxide for each unit of heat released.
- However, it produces more heat per mass than any other organic molecule due to its relatively large content of hydrogen.
Krishna-Godavari Block
- Krishna Godavari Basin is a peri-cratonic passive margin basin in India.
- It is spread across more than 50,000 square kilometres in the Krishna River and Godavari River basins in Andhra Pradesh.
- Krishna-Godavari inland and offshore basins have good prospects of tight oil and tight gas reserves from the conducted field studies.
- Most of the conventional wells drilled and operated have a shorter lifespan than envisaged life and with erratic production.
- This may be due to drilling of conventional wells in tight oil and gas fields without horizontal drilling in the shale rock formations and hydraulic fracturing.
