Engineering students Taylor Aiken (Loveland, OH) and Thomas Burg (Chagrin Falls, OH) are experimenting with different techniques to reduce the formation time of natural gas hydrates, NGH. In cooperation with the United States Department of Energy and Parsons Corporation, they are very fortunate to be working on a project that can likely aid in our reduction of foreign oil dependence and allow utilization of domestic natural gas fields.

Hydrates can be explained briefly as gas molecules mechanically enclosed within water molecules to form a sort of “ice.” Hydrates can be burned directly, or can be dissociated into methane gas and pure water. Methane hydrates, in particular are a very important subject to study. This is because methane hydrates allow a significant volume of methane to be held and transported at temperatures and pressures that very reasonable. Current forms of methane/natural gas require high energy inputs and are rather dangerous to transport.

Recently, they were able to create their first robust sample of NGH. This is a task they have been working on for the duration of the academic year, and it was quite exciting for them. The photo shows the burning NGH. The feel and temperature of the substance is much like ice and it burns like a gas stove for a few minutes. They are now in the process of developing and analyzing test runs of the substance.

Tom and Taylor are working with Dr. James Moller, associate professor of mechanical and manufacturing engineering and other colleagues on this capstone project. Tom is majoring in engineering management and manufacturing engineering; and Taylor is majoring in chemical engineering. Also working on this project until their recent graduation were Tom Byrne (West Hartford, CT), Drew Mills (Amherst, NH), and Mike Roth (Oxford, OH).