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X‐ray synchrotron diffraction study of natural gas hydrates from African margin
Author(s) -
Bourry Christophe,
Charlou JeanLuc,
Donval JeanPierre,
Brunelli Michela,
Focsa Cristian,
Chazallon Bertrand
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2007gl031285
Subject(s) - methane , lattice constant , natural gas , clathrate hydrate , synchrotron , powder diffraction , diffraction , thermal expansion , hydrate , lattice (music) , atmospheric temperature range , materials science , mineralogy , analytical chemistry (journal) , geology , crystallography , chemistry , thermodynamics , physics , metallurgy , optics , environmental chemistry , organic chemistry , acoustics
Natural gas hydrates recovered from the Congo‐Angola basin and Nigerian margins are analyzed by synchrotron X‐ray powder diffraction. Biogenic methane is the most abundant gas trapped in the samples and others minor components (CO 2 , H 2 S) are co‐clathrated in a type I cubic lattice structure. The refinement for the type I structure gives lattice parameters of a = 11.8646 (39) Å and a = 11.8619 (23) Å for specimens from Congo‐Angola and Nigerian margins respectively at 90 K. These values, intermediate between the lattice constant of less pure methane specimens and pure artificial methane hydrates, indicate that lattice constants can be affected by the presence of encaged CO 2 , H 2 S and other gas molecules, even in small amounts. Thermal expansion is also presented for Congo‐Angola hydrate in the temperature range 90–200 K. The coefficients are comparable with values reported for synthetic hydrates at low temperature and tend to approach thermal expansion of ice at higher temperature.