Why not use methane energy storage

Why is methane a problem?

The climate panel also highlights the problem — and opportunity — posed by methane, which has contributed as much as 0.5 °C of warming since pre-industrial times, second only to CO 2. Methane is the main component of natural gas, whose popularity as a relatively clean source of fossil energy has soared by more than 50% over the past two decades.

Is thermal hydrogen better than methane for storage?

It has been favorably compared to methane for storage in terms of round-trip efficiency but without carbon cycling or economic analysis. 15 Cycling of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen-derivatives has been suggested in the concept of “thermal hydrogen” 16 but not in the context of very high penetrations of renewable energy and inter-annual storage.

Is methane a good source of energy?

Recent developments spearheaded by multiple countries with harnessing methane have made it a promising source of energy that could overtake other fossil fuel energy sources (Fig.1). It is considered to be a cleaner alternative to oil and coal, is richer in carbon, and found abundantly in nature.

Can methane be used as a source of hydrogen?

Although methane itself is a well-established fuel, it can also be used as a source of hydrogen (at energy penalty) using an established steam methane reforming process in conventional thermochemical reactors or membrane separation catalytic reactors ( Kim et al., 2018; Simakov and Román-Leshkov, 2018 ).

How does methane produce energy?

Methane produces energy in the form of heat when ignited through oxidative pyrolysis. The following reaction equations describe this process: Recent efforts especially by Japan have proven to be fruitful, where there is an estimated 6 trillion cubic meters of methane hydrate in sedimentary basins nearby.

Can we make methane out of CO2?

The researchers have now calculated that despite this higher cost of the process, it can still be beneficial to make methane out of CO 2 because storage of methane is ten times cheaper than hydrogen. This way, we can store electricity for seasons in a potentially cheaper manner than by using only hydrogen.