Hollow Silica: A Novel Material for Methane Storage

Methane gas storage in the form of Methane Hydrate (MH) in hollow silica was studied and compared with solid silica and pure water systems. The gas hydrate growth l dissociation was monitored by following the pressure (gas intake) - temperature variations in a classical isochoric process. The effect of stirring on the hydrate formation kinetics and yield was clearly evidenced in the case of solid and pure water systems, whereas it did not show any influence in hollow silica; and in fact, the yields remained identical in both stirring and non-stirring experiments. Approximately 3.6 m.mol of methane per gram of water was consumed as MH in the hollow silica matrix and the formation kinetics was extremely fast (similar to 180 min). However, the methane gas conversion into MH in solid silica and pure water systems was similar to 10 times higher in a stirred reactor when compared with a non-stirred system.