Scientists have created a new type of ice that could help geologists better understand the planet’s inner workings, as well as combat climate change.
Named Ice XVI, it is the least dense of all known forms of ice and has a delicate cage-like structure that can trap gaseous molecules.
These molecules can be anything from methane to carbon dioxide, and are contained in ‘clathrate’ cages deep beneath the sea floor.
By uncovering the intricate structure of these clathrates, scientists hope they can use it for carbon capture and storage, by removing methane from the sea floor and replacing it with CO2.
Scientists at University of Göttingen in Germany and the Institut Laue Langevin in France suspected that the structure of an empty clathrate may look like, but up until now it was hypothetical.
This is because clathrates are wrapped around other atoms in a configuration too fragile to be untangled.
To separate the delicate clathrate cage from its guest molecules, scientists used vacuum pump, coupled with very low temperatures.
They used neon atoms as the guest molecules, which, when exposed to the vacuum, were slowly drawn away without damaging the cage.
WHAT ARE CLATHRATES?
Clathrates, also called gas hydrates were discovered in 1810 by Sir Humphrey Davy.
They crystalline solids which look like ice, and which occur when water molecules form a cage-like structure around smaller 'guest molecules'.
The most common guest molecules are methane, ethane, propane, isobutane, normal butane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide.
In the 1930s, these tiny ice cages turned out to be a major problem, clogging pipelines during transportation of gas under cold conditions.
By uncovering the intricate structure of these clathrates, scientists hope they can use it for carbon capture and storage, by removing methane from the sea floor and replacing it with CO2.
What was left was Ice XVI, which researchers hope to use to explore the intricate structure of a clathrate hydrate.
Thomas Hansen, one of the study authors and instrument scientist on D20 at the ILL, said: 'It is important to note that clathrates could also be formed with carbon dioxide gas which would create stable compounds on the ocean floor.
‘This means there is a possibility we could extract methane and convert it to useful energy, and replace it with the CO2.
‘In other words, we could pump CO2 down to the ocean floor as a replacement for the methane in the gas hydrates.
‘The challenges involved would naturally be large and the feasibility has been called into question, but it remains an extremely intriguing possibility worth exploring
As well as its use in carbon capture and storage, the new ice may help when it comes to pumping natural gas, which often comes with clathrates.
Such research could help ease the flow of gas and oil through pipelines in low temperature environments, and open up untapped reservoirs of natural gas on the ocean floor.
