Methane hydrates, in arctic permafrost and deep ocean sediments,
store vast amounts of methane. Estimates place the amount of
carbon trapped in gas hydrate formations worldwide at twice that
stored in all known fossil fuels on earth.
Thus they constitute an enormous potential energy source.
On the other hand, they may be implicated in global warming
and climate changes. A few degrees temperature rise would
cause melting of hydrate layers and large scale release of
methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas.
Methane hydrate is a crystaline solid consisting of methane
molecules surrounded by frozen water molecules. It is stable
in a narrow range of high pressures and low temperatures.
Thus, issues affecting the stability of hydrate layers and
phase change processes that may disturb this stability are
of utmost importance.
Our objectives are to model gas hydrate reactions and phase
stability; to develop tools for interdisciplinary
modeling/characterization, and delineate the role of key variables
and processes (including bacteria, eventually)
in pressure-sensitive gas hydrates. Towards that end, I am
developing mathematical/computational models for heat and mass
transfer and phase change (hydrate formation and decomposition)
in ocean sediments.