Burning ice can become a popular fuel in the future

Japan and China successfully exploited the seabed, opening hope to turn it into a popular fuel in the future.

Gas escapes from an ice mining rig burning under the South China Sea.(Photo: AP.)

Commercial exploitation of huge fossil fuel reserves called fire ice has come closer to reality after Japan and China successfully separated the material from their seabed, according to Bangkok Post.

Combustible ice is a frozen mixture of concentrated natural gas and water. Technically, it is also known as methane hydrate. Burning ice can be burned in a frozen state. This is one of the most abundant fossil fuels in the world.

Xinhua news agency reported that China successfully exploited the fire from the East Sea bottom on May 18. Jiang Daming, Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Land, said the event was a breakthrough moment, leading to a future global energy revolution.

Japan also reported successful exploitation of the fire two weeks earlier, on May 4 along the Shima Peninsula.

For Japan, methane hydrate provides an opportunity to reduce heavy dependence on imported fuels. In China, it is a cleaner alternative to coal-fired plants and steel plants, helping to reduce air pollution for the country.

Methane hydrate is found mainly in the seabed. It is also deep within the permafrost of the Arctic and beneath the Antarctic ice sheet.

According to the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), the estimated world ice reserves range from 280 trillion to 2,800 trillion m3. Meanwhile, total natural gas production worldwide in 2015 is only 3.5 billion m3. This means that methane hydrate can meet global gas demand from 80 to 800 years with current consumption.

The cost of exploitation is too high and the profit factor is the reason that private and state energy companies have not invested in fire and ice exploitation for decades. Exploiting requires the use of a large amount of water or carbon dioxide (CO2) to submerge the methane hydrate store, causing the fuel to be released and deposited to the surface.

Scientists say it will take many more years before we can conduct ice production on a large scale. If not exploited properly, this material will flood the Earth's atmosphere with greenhouse gases and increase climate change.

"The climate impacts of burning ice production are complex, have potential benefits but there are also significant risks," said David Sandalow, an expert at Dai's Global Energy Policy Center. Columbia, New York, USA, said.