Japan’s 100-Year Plan: Japan to Implement a Subsea Natural Gas Project for Carbon Dioxide Production
Thread Content
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology has revealed that it is developing a new technology to seal emitted carbon dioxide beneath the sea floor and convert it into natural gas; this experiment is the first of its kind in the world. Carbon dioxide sequestration technology is considered an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to a report in Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun on the 4th, Japan’s Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology plans to use the underwater coal fields near the Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture as sites for carbon dioxide storage. The “lignite” layers in this sea area contain “methanogens” that convert carbon dioxide into methane, which is the main component of natural gas. Under natural conditions, it takes 100 million to 1 billion years for \"methanogens\" to convert carbon dioxide into methane in geological formations. The goal of Japanese researchers is to develop technologies to enhance the conversion capacity of \"methanogenic bacteria,\" thereby reducing the conversion cycle to within 100 years. If made practical, it would be possible to sequester 100 times the amount of carbon dioxide emitted in Japan over the years beneath the sea floor, converting it into a vast natural gas resource. The exploration in the 2,300-meter-deep waters of the Shimokita Peninsula in the Aomori Sea, where experiments on sequestering carbon dioxide to produce offshore natural gas are being conducted, was carried out by Japan’s Chikyū deep-sea exploration vessel. Japan’s Chikyū is the world’s largest and most advanced vessel for exploring the Earth’s deep layers, built jointly by Japanese companies Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsui Shipbuilding. “The \"Chikyū\" vessel pioneered Japan’s exploration and research of the Earth’s deep interior and the ocean depths, bringing Japan’s technologies for exploring these areas to the forefront of the world. Japan’s Chikyū deep-earth exploration vessel is capable of drilling to depths of over 7,000 meters in the ocean at a depth of 2,500 meters
It feels like these things are far from us, even further from industrialization, and not very meaningful
The problem is that having only colonies that produce methane isn’t enough; to convert CO2 into methane, hydrogen is required. Where does the raw material in coalfields come from that allows these colonies to break down and produce hydrogen atoms?
China should learn from Japan and stop mining coal just to sell it every day!
Reply to 3# YYL-VIVID: Water – there is an infinite amount of water at the bottom of the sea. I think these methanogenic bacteria must be able to utilize the hydrogen atoms in water. Moreover, many marine microorganisms produce oxygen, which explains where the oxygen goes.