19th International
CODATA Conference
Category: Gas Hydrates - Plenary
Gas Hydrates - An Ideal
Subject for CODATA Activity in the Information Age
E. Dendy Sloan (esloan@mines.edu),
Center for Hydrate Research, Colorado School of Mines, USA
Fedor A. Kuznetsov
(fk@che.nsk.su), Siberian Branch, Russian
Academy of Sciences, Russia
A review of the history of gas hydrates will be given, with a projection for
the future. This work has the following points:
- Natural gas hydrates
impact the following applications: climate change, energy, flow assurance,
gas storage, global carbon budget, safety, and seafloor stability.
- Such far-ranging applications
require a Renaissance knowledge, going far beyond the capability of any one
person, or group. In the words of Sir Francis Bacon, such a complex subject
"requires a dynamic, cooperative, and cumulative undertaking." (Novum
Organum, 1620)
- A database for hydrates
is required to enable the cooperative work of such diverse disciplines as
chemistry, physics, geology, geophysics, geochemistry, petroleum engineering,
and chemical engineering.
- While it appears that
the thermodynamic data and prediction methods are in a satisfactory condition
for most applications, data and prediction methods which are much less satisfactory
are in geology, geochemistry, and geophysics, as well as in hydrate kinetics.
- The impact of errors
in the above needed data and prediction methods will be given in this presentation.
- For the last three years,
CODATA has funded the awareness of the need for a hydrate database, which
has resulted in a series of regional CODATA hydrate meetings in China, India,
Japan, North America, Russia, etc.
- A renewal proposal is
currently under consideration by CODATA to extend the above awareness need
to the construction of the hydrate database itself.
This presentation indicates
the need for a hydrate database to serve seven important societal applications.