In order for raw methane hydrate slurry to be processed and harvested into energy, it must go through three steps: sweetening, dehydration, and a light oil absorber – this eventually yields a stripped natural gas, which is essentially entirely methane. The ‘sweetening’ process removes H2S, if any is present. The presence of acidic H2S in the gas can cause damage to pipelines, valves, and potentially poison catalysts used throughout the process. Moreover, the condenser process removes excess water before compression and liquefaction. Since ethane and CO2 may be present, they must be removed in order to make this gas-to-liquid process work. The remaining H2O will aid in the production of purified gas. This proposed method is similar to that used to process natural gas.
