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They call them Service Lighters or SL's for short.  In reality they are pretty ugly vessels, looking like a cross between a coastal tanker and a barge.  The mate meets you at the top of the gangplank and leads you to the captain's quarters, where the air conditioning hits you like a plunge into the swimming pool.

This is Belém, a seaport in northern Brazil, right next to the equator; it is the operational base for the SL's which service the Amazon delta.

After greeting you, the captain issues curt instructions for the boat to depart and then enquires "How much do you know about the Methane Mining Operation?"

Just start from scratch, if you don't mind

"Well, it all stems from Global Warming, and a couple of discoveries made back in 2000:

The first was that the Amazon was a CO₂ sink, as opposed to the wisdom of the day which held that mature forests were carbon neutral.  Well, as we all know now, the missing carbon was being 'exported' down the rivers and deposited, along with a good bit of silt, as debris in the outer Amazon delta and beyond.  Here is decomposed anaerobically to methane and CO₂.

The second discovery was that, in deeper water still, much older methane had been stored in the seabed as Methane Hydrate… this is a crystal which forms when the pressure is high and the water is cold.  Unfortunately, when the temperature rises, it becomes unstable and dissociates to become methane gas and water once more.  The methane of course, re-enters the atmosphere as a powerful greenhouse gas; a scenario which the scientists call 'positive feedback', and stood to amplify the effect of Global Warming by a large factor.

Well, if you put these scientific factors together with a couple of economic ones, ie that Brazil was desperately short of energy and that the World Carbon Trading Bank was offering a substantial bounty for methane mining, and you don't need a crystal ball to see the outcome.  Our company BMR (Brazil Methane Reclamation) was founded within 6 months.

So we have two mining teams, the first, called 'Low-Pressure or LP Methane Miners', work in the relatively shallow waters of the delta; they harvest wood debris and low-pressure methane.  The second, called 'High-Pressure or HP Methane Miners', work in the deeper offshore waters and harvest high-pressure methane locked up in hydrate.  We Service Lighters are just runners for the LP Miners, but it's quite exciting enough for me", he finishes with a grin.

By now we're skimming across the light brown water of a river mouth: What speed are we doing?

"55 knots.  This boat, although it looks slow, is designed to plane on the relatively calm coastal waters, and of course, we're empty now.  We have to slow down a bit with TIRs behind."

You let that one pass.  Are we at the sea already?

"No way!" the captain laughs "this is the Point where the Pará River joins the Amazon.  In fact, if you look off the bow quarter, you can see the opposite bank", he hands you some binoculars.

There is a smudge of vegetation just visible on the horizon ahead through the heat haze.

And how far away is that?

"Oh, the river is only about 20km wide at this point, although this is only one of the branches.  The entire Amazon delta is about 300km across"

He sounds casual, but you think you can detect a certain pride in his voice

So how far is it to the sea then?  "From here, about 100km" 

Good Lord!  The scale of the place is amazing!

"So", he continues, driving the point home, "our shallow water concession extends some 250km from the coast and totals just under 95,000 square kilometres, or to put it in perspective, about three times the area of all the oilfields in the world combined"

Wow!

"And, it is hundreds of metres deep in places, whereas the average oil-bearing strata may only be a few metres thick"

The captain has obviously been well educated and is pleased to be able to show off his knowledge.

"An SL's job is to collect the gas and wood from the miners and deliver it to LP Central, hence the interesting design of this ship"

and where is LP Central?

"It's located in 40m of water and is about 20km south of the geometric centre of the concession"

and what happens to it there?

"Some of the wood is burnt in a power plant to make electricity, and some is exported.  The gas is compressed to pipeline pressure and the heavier fractions (LPG) are extracted; quite a lot is converted to hydrogen.  Gas, hydrogen and electricity currently go to the Belém area and are gradually being introduced into the whole of Pará province"

and what about the CO₂ produced?

"Don't worry, it all collected and sent for ocean sequestration.  All the major users return their CO₂ to LP Central.  Minor consumers use hydrogen."

Our boat has been speeding along for a couple of hours by now, and the captain explains that she is one of three high-speed SL's which often do the Belém run, taking wood and LPG back to the shore and bringing containers of supplies out to the miners.  There are also six GL's (Gas Lighters) which just ferry gas from the gas Miners to the GLS's (Gas Loading Stations) and return with hydrogen.

What is a Gas Loading Station?

"Well, the miners are on the move all the time, so you can’t run a fixed pipeline to them.  However, it would be uneconomic to ship the gas all the way to Central, so the GLS's are a compromise.  They are transfer points from the SL's to a pipeline system.  Each GLS has six Gas offloading Pillars and three Hydrogen loading Pillars… but you will see all that later!"

And how many GLS's are there?

"There are currently three, but a fourth will be opened in a couple of years time, as the working area expands."

What is the wood used for?

"Well, a huge amount of wood is used for cooking in a town the size of Belém with a population of nearly 2 million, not to mention the rest of Brazil.  The government prefers people to use 'mined wood' rather than cut down more of the rain forest, as previously.

Recently, however, there has been increased demand for quality 'mined wood' from furniture makers.  Apparently its 'well seasoned' and 'green label' characteristics make it a very popular export commodity.  Most of the wood comes out as flakes, but sometimes usable logs are found".

and the LPG?

"Well, vehicles mainly… but look, there's our first LP Miner coming up.  This one's a wood miner so we're going to take some wood and gas aboard; no point in running around empty"

He is pointing at an island ahead with several houses on it.  There's a jetty with a small coaster loading, but we're headed for a mooring on the other side.

"As I was saying," said the captain "it's more like a cottage industry; he's selling his mined logs plus a lot of firewood, to the coaster who will no doubt be taking them to Belém."

As you get nearer you realise that the island has sheer concrete sides.  It is several hundred metres in diameter and has a hill, trees and several sizeable huts on it.  In the centre is a derrick, and visible in the distance are some grey canopies.  The captain has been talking on the radio.  "Sebastiao invites us aboard"

Leaving the crew to deal with the gas loading, he leads the way to a building with a straw roof close to the dock; this is the Office.  The heat is intense and you are pleased to find that the inside of the building is cool and modern.  Apparently the straw roof is just low-tech insulation and shade.

After introductions, Sebastiao, who looks to be mostly Amazonian Indian, points at his 'Methane Mining Permit' on the wall.

"Welcome to the 'São Manuel'. This is a family business, started by my father who still works occasionally although he is formally retired.  The whole family lives on board, that is myself, two brothers, one sister and all our various families!  The vessel is leased from the Brazilian government and can work anywhere in the Amazon concession, subject to our depth limitations, of course. We have a diameter of 350 metres and three workstations.  We can operate in up to 35 metres of water and hold 13 Million standard cubic metres of Methane gas, including our blimps.  On a good day we also produce 20 thousand tons of wood flakes".  He points at a 'flake' about half a metre square and a quarter thick!  It is dense and hard to lift off the deck.

Seeing your puzzled expression, he suggests it might be easier to look at the facilities.  He leads the way to a further room

"This is the control centre, responsible for rig safety, stability, manoeuvring and overall command.  This diagram shows the entire rig, and as you can see it is like a squat cylinder with a closed top, divided up into cells approximately 50 metres across.  The larger octagonal cells contain gas and the small squares are ballast.  The outer gas cells are closed at the base, and can be pressurised to 10 bar; the inner cells are open at the bottom and contain the workstations.  As the inner cells fill with gas, the whole rig floats, although we always hug the bottom for stability.

There are 15 Drill stations controlled by 3 men, and 3 Grab stations normally controlled by the fourth.  We also have a deep drill bit, but that is rarely needed.  We work 24 hours per day, so we have to have 3 crews. Altogether, with dayshift workers, like myself, maintenance and support, there are 24 people permanently employed here"

Why so many drill stations?

"Well, our target is to recover 90% of the wood buried in the top 100m of the river bed.  That means we drill 6m dia holes at approx. 15m centres.  Our rig works a 200m track, hence 15 stations.  But you will see more if we visit one."

This involves a short walk to the first of a line of low circular huts.  Again it is cool inside.

"Yes, the gas expands when it leaves the ground.  The result is a cool rig; all we have to do is keep these work stations insulated."

The workstation is a circular set of consoles with a huge revolving chair in the centre.  Set into the arms are several levers and buttons.

"The operator keeps five drills working simultaneously; which requires a high level of training and concentration.  Each drill, or Stinger, is a six-metre diameter hollow tube with cutting edges, like a huge hole-cutting bit.  It works its way into the mud slicing through any trees en route.  There is a central lance ahead of the Stinger which penetrates gas pockets and measures their pressure characteristics to avoid breaking in too fast.  It is all automated, so the human input is really just tweaking!"

What happens if you hit a really big gas pocket? you want to know.

"Ah, that has been anticipated.  Before the area is released to us, a gas miner has already worked the patch.  We carry one deep drill just in case they have missed a pocket.  In that case, we would turn into a static rig for a while, but it is very rare."

and the wood; what happens to that?

"On the downstroke, we cut through it and dice anything within the stinger.  The flakes are carried up with the drilling water which circulates down the outside and up the middle of the stinger.  Then on the upstroke (stinger retracting), the water flow is reversed, rotation stops and 3 metre long bristles extend from the tip of the stinger to drag large bits of wood out.  These are recovered by the Grab stations as the rig moves forward."

How deep do you go?

"The Stinger is telescopic and will extend to 120 metres below base.  However the mud usually firms up at about 80 metres, and any wood below that depth is considered locked in.  Maybe one day, it will be economic to go back for it, but it's not urgent from the Greenhouse Gas angle."

and what powers the whole thing?

"We have a bank of Hydrogen-powered Fuel Cells which delivers hydraulic power (very high pressure water) to all the workstations, and supplies electricity for general use."

where do you get the Hydrogen?

"It is shipped from LP Central in special blimps.  We aim to leave nothing environmentally unfriendly behind us.  The alluvium is filtered for wood debris and the water surface within the rig skimmed for oil.  The latter is actually quite a valuable by-product!  Sometimes we can also sell a barge or two of rich alluvium if somebody wants to improve their soil quality."

But what incentive is there to keep things so clean?

"Well basically we are the custodians of the Amazon delta, and protectors of the overall ecosystem. Most of us are locals and it makes sense to look after your own backyard and after a while it becomes a matter of pride.  Then again, we are checked periodically by the inspectorate (Brazilian Government and the World Carbon Trading Bank), and our license is capable of being revoked if we are polluting.  Would you like to look at the wood handling?"

Certainly.

We make our way to a further hut, 100m away.  Inside it is the normal blissfully cool atmosphere, but the lighting is subdued.  Two women are seated on swivel chairs on a circular stage in the centre of the room.  They have masks on and are moving their arms in a peculiar clawing manner.  It looks like some form of macabre slow-motion mime routine.

"This set-up is the latest in Virtual Reality", says Sebastiao, "the girls are cutting and sorting the wood in the chambers beneath.  Feedback is via computer enhanced sonar to their goggles and acoustically to their headphones.  Maria, over there is cutting… see the extended forefinger?  Juanita is stacking."

Sure enough, one of the figures appears to be lifting invisible objects with either hand.  Her arms are encased in long gloves, supported from the ceiling by wires.

"Normally there is only one VR operator who works between the three Grabs.  At present, however, we are preparing logs for the coaster and need two ops."

and how do the operators know which logs are usable?

 "It's all done by our instruments.  The good logs are identifiable by their frequency response to ultrasound; the computer displays it all in false colours - look in this headset."  he fastens some goggles to your head.  At first it's just a confusing array of near horizontal shapes and colours, blue red and green outlines with moving white vertical arms.

Sebastiao suggests that you move your head around and suddenly your brain clicks into 3-D recognition; head movement changes your apparent position of view and you can now see the outlines of trees and branches stacked in a heap.  The white tool with the glowing red tip is obviously the cutting blade; it moves through the logs inexorably working in tandem with a couple of clamping tools.  Your smile must have given away your awareness.

"The green ones are the ironwoods.  That's what we are looking for.  Occasionally we get some ebony and that shows up yellow.  If you were seated on the stage where the girls are, you would also feel the vibrations caused by the tools working - also another useful sensory feedback.."

It seems so graceful, like ballet

"indeed", agrees Sebastiao "underwater is an ideal environment to handle timber.  Those trees are huge and would weigh over 50 tons on land, but underwater they're only about 3 tons and we can manipulate them easily.  Furthermore they cut like butter, although once the wood dries out it is almost impossible to even mark it.  The shippers try to keep it wet until it hits the factories.  There they have learned how to handle it… I know because my uncle owns one." he adds assuredly.

You emerge from the goggles and look cautiously around; the room does not move.

"Want to see the end product?"

The Captain of the SL interrupts, "I think, Sebastiao, that we should be on our way, unless there are any last questions?"

There are many things that you would like to ask, but one major item is still unclear.

How do you move this huge vessel?

"Easy!  We are always attached to the bottom via the stingers; while drilling there are at least three stingers engaged and by varying the pressure on these we can adjust our depth and attitude. To move, we retract all but one end stinger and rotate about it.  Inserting the other end stinger allows us to swivel the opposite way.  A bit like the front end of a giant tortoise. Crude but effective!"  He smiles and offers his hand.  "but I see you need to be off.  Nice to meet you".

On the way out we call in at the Office to check and sign the loading papers, but soon we are back on board the SL.  There have been some changes in our absence.  The SL is now attached to a huge floating sausage, grey-green with an orange stripe down the side. It is a  'Towed Inflatable Reservoir' (TIR), normally referred to as a 'blimp'.

"The orange stripe means medium pressure methane - all the 6's written down the stripe refer to the pressure rating: 6 barG ." advises the Captain. "The Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) has been loaded onto tanks on board, and that, of course, is 80,000 tons of wood flakes".  He points at the hold which is full of what looks like grey-black building blocks in a towering heap.

Where did all that come from?

"The TIRs were ready loaded - we just swapped them for empty ones.  The wood skips are floated into the rear docking bay.  We dropped off a return skip with an empty TIR and also a tank of LPG for transport use.  Turnround time is less than one hour."

This time the Service Lighter eases away from the jetty with her strange cargo trailing behind her and heads off at an acute angle.  "We have to head up wind until we reach full speed.  Always got to keep the blimps downwind of us".

Gradually the speed rises and the sausage, which had been bouncing around a bit, stabilises nicely.

What size is the TIR?

"That's our standard 50m diameter by 400m long.  It holds about 4½ Million Standard Cubic Metres of methane.  The skin is 50mm thick carbon fibre reinforced polypropylene. When deflated it is 50m dia by 100m long and fits neatly into an empty skip"

But isn't methane lighter than air?

"Well, yes, at atmospheric pressure that's right.  However that blimp is compressed to 6 bar, which means the methane in it is four times the density of air.  The Hydrogen blimps normally need a bit of water ballast though, especially if the weather is a bit bumpy."

After this pronouncement, the captain goes silent.  The figures certainly need some digesting.  The captain suggests lunch.  For you it is a chance to ask some more questions.

So how many miners are there altogether?

"There are currently eight wood miners and about forty gas miners.  Four more Gas Miners are commissioned every year, so the whole operation is continually expanding.  Currently we are at 60% of expected peak production.", he replies, "the target is to remove all 'surface methane' from the Amazon basin in 50 years, then continue to mine the wood as long as we need the material.  There are wood reserves there for about two thousand years."

Amazing! That takes some thinking about…. a project which is so large that it takes 25 years from inception to reach peak production and then continues for 2000 years!

And are all the miners the size of the 'São Manuel'?

"Yes, she's a standard miner, size wise, perhaps a bit more automated than most.  The gas miners are simpler; they only make small holes and consequently cover the ground faster, but they are the same size.  Of course, each miner is designed for its own depth limit - it's never more than a few metres off the bottom, so it can't sink."

But doesn't gas mining disturb the sediment and cause later methane outgassing?

"Ah, they've thought of that.  The gas miners (as distinct from the wood miners) only make 6" holes and then plug them as the drill bit comes out.  That way, any later gas accumulations stay put.  The wood miners, of course do disturb the sediment somewhat, but in this river that is situation normal.  In fact, the fish enjoy the released nutrients and the miner families and their friends eat well."  He points towards a bulging plastic bag on the floor.  "Supper".

Three quarters of an hour away, the next stop is GLS3 (Gas Loading Station Gamma, you remind yourself).  The captain points towards a group of blue flashing lights, but nothing else is visible.  "Here, look at the radar scan"

A circle of points is visible, two of the points are winking.  'Those 2 are the Hydrogen Loading Pillars, the other 4 Gas Discharge.  It's enhanced radar, of course, the LP's emit a signal which the radar thinks is a reflection.  The pillars are labelled a,b,c etc. clockwise from the North.  We're going in to LP-3b."

He issues some unintelligible orders!

"As we slow down we need to come into the wind; that will bring us parallel with the moored blimps, of course, they all act like weather vanes"

We execute a slow left-hand turn.  The captain seems to be talking to himself.

"Radio beacon detection on! Each post transmits at a unique frequency.  We have to keep deliveries up in all weathers!"

We are approaching the first moored blimps attached to their Loading Pillars by the neck.  The first one looks to be full sized, but the second is less than half as long, with visible corrugations in the skin.  You would like to ask the captain, but he is concentrating.

"Steady as she goes, speed 5 knots, extending tow rope"

The 6 Loading Pillars are all visible now, like a ring of marine mushrooms.

"That's our target.  The Loading Pillars rotate and you always approach them on the port side"

The pillar labelled LP-3b sticks straight out of the sea.  As you get closer, you notice there is a notch out of the right-hand side just below eye level.

Our TIR has fallen away to stern as the towrope is paid out.  We pass the pillar, drop speed still further and execute a sharp turn to the left.  The towrope wraps itself around the pillar and is caught in the notch.  We are still moving away from the pillar but the TIR is not following anymore.

"Tow rope clear," says the Captain, "that's it now, over to the automatics."

He looks at my blank face and explains.  "The notch in the pillar grabs the rope, and pulls it out of our inertial winch until it releases from us. It then reels the rope in, working from the centre and pulling the blimp onto the discharge nozzle.  See!"

Sure enough, the blimp is slowly nuzzling up to LP-3b.

and what's up with that half-collapsed blimp?

"The core-rope, which is effectively an extension of the towrope, extends right through the axis of the blimp to the rear dome.  The pillar pulls steadily on this rope thus keeping the blimp pressure up by reducing its length.  There's a kind of spider inside which controls the blimp's shape."

Is the station manned?

"Not in the conventional sense - it's under remote control from Central; each LP has its ccTV camera.  Also, there is always a support vessel on hand to sort out handling problems, help the maintenance crew plus keep an eye on security."

How is maintenance carried out… there appears to be no way to even access the pillars?

"They are unhooked and replaced in their entirety… think of them as light bulbs, and you've just about got it, except that they are overhauled not thrown away."

Where is the power source?

"A pipeline from Central provides hydrogen which is converted by fuel cells to electricity.  Pumps provide hydraulic power (compressed water) to the LP's.  The Power Complex is subsea in the centre of the ring; well out of harm's way."

The captain suggests some coffee and a snack.  A beer would have been welcome, but it looks as though the vessel is dry!

Skimming our way across the light brown water, we soon eat up the 90 kilometres to LP Central.

"There she is", says the captain "we'll be there in half an hour".

A structure is visible, rising out of the open water.

"Now to offload the containers, and you, of course"

We make our way slowly towards Central.  It seems to get bigger and bigger until our ship is dwarfed beneath it.  A platform crane swings over and the crew run to attach the slings which are already in place on the containers.  Off they go, one at a time.

"You will notice that there is hardly any swell" says the captain " there is a Wave Barrier upweather of the complex, and it normally provides us with mill-pond conditions.  Not so vital for containers, but essential for the wood dock.  It's over there."

He points at an opening in the massive structure with a gantry sticking out.

"We are going to reverse under the gantry, attach the slings, ballast down so the wood skips float clear of the docking bay, then pull away.  The gantry crane drags the floating skips under the platform then lifts them one at a time into the drying area."

"and that" says the captain, "will be the end of our trip, but first we need to offload you"

He gives you a firm handshake and bids you farewell.  The mate leads you to the man-riding capsule, where you are the only traveller in a 6-person padded module.  After the initial acceleration as the crane lifts you off the deck, there is hardly any sensation as you cross the gap. The view through the portholes is breathtaking!  There is activity all around.

"Welcome to LP Central"  the door swings open and a friendly face looks in "follow me, please, the OIM is expecting you".  The boss is obviously known as the 'Offshore Installation Manager' in true oil-rig fashion!  In fact the whole thing reminds you of your time in the North Sea, with the exception of the heat!

The offices are cool and efficient.  The OIM has a corner location with magnificent views to the North and East.  Having greeted you he is keen to get down to BMR business.

"When this project kicked off in 2004, there was little appreciation of the effect it would have on the Brazilian economy and even the local culture."

This is obviously a well-rehearsed speech.

"It was not easy - it took three years of feasibility studies before the financing was secured and detailed design could proceed.  By 2013, construction started and the first gas was processed by LP Central in 2016, fed by the first 2 miners via Gas Loading Station Alpha.

Since that time we have been building miners at a rate of four per year, and extending our zone of operations accordingly.

By 2029 we expect to have enough Gas miners - 74 in total - to work out our gas concession within the 80 years of the original charter."

What is the current production situation?

"Well, today we process the output from 40 gas and 8 wood miners in the Amazon delta, and although that is a simple statement, the whole thing becomes quite complex and sometimes needs a good bit of juggling between our various clients.  We basically have four products, each of which can be described in three stages."

The OIM seems to have an orderly mind; he ticks the items off on his fingers.

"Firstly we have wood.

Wood is a growing market.  We started with 3 Wood Miners, which were enough for our initial needs.  That was:

1a     the first use of wood - 52 thousand tons of it is burned daily here for power.  An equivalent sized conventional power station would burn 45 thousand tons of coal per day just to produce the electricity, never mind the Hydrogen …. next

1b    We started sending wood down the coast to various power plants (45 thousand tons daily).  Currently that occupies another 2 Wood Miners…. then

1c     the last use of wood is for export.  Exports are getting stronger, both in bulk wood flakes (90 thousand tons daily) and reclaimable timber (123 thousand cubic metres daily).  To put that in perspective, it's as much as the wood production of the whole of the US.  We have an export jetty located on the Wave Barrier, there.  Currently we have commissioned a further 5 Wood Miners to cover that market.

Grand total ten Wood Miners."

We look out of the window towards East; it certainly is a grand view. The wave barrier appears as a busy port with five large ships and numerous smaller moored on the near side.  It is hard to appreciate that it is 5 kms away and itself over 2kms long!

The lesson continues:

"Secondly we have River Gas

The Gas that arrives here is a mixture of Methane and the heavier fractions plus 10% CO₂.  It is processed in three stages:

2a     It is offloaded at one of the GLS's from the TIR's at a constant pressure of 6 bar; a hydraulic winch tensions the core rope to compress the blimp… but you have seen that!

2b    Back at Central, the gas is further compressed and cooled to remove the NGL (Natural Gas Liquids).

2c     Then it is converted to a mixture of Hydrogen and Electricity in the Oxycell process"

"Thirdly we have Electricity

We are a major power station.  The juice we make here supplies the whole Belém area via an underwater superconducting cable.  It is government policy to keep the Amazon area as clean as possible so this offshore power plant is a blessing.  Our electricity production meets three criteria:

3a     Under average load conditions we produce 5 Gigawatts of electricity.  That's equivalent to two or three central power stations; but we have an advantage…

3b    During light load times, say 2 Gigawatts, we reduce the hydrogen flow to the Fuel Cells and store the excess under the platform for later use.

3c     And under heavy load conditions, we can put that stored hydrogen back through our extra bank of PEM cells to produce 10 Gigawatts of power.  That's an overall turndown ratio of 5:1, which is unheard of for a central unit… and we can adjust to load changes in minutes!"

The OIM is obviously proud of his installation.  He glows with enthusiasm.

"Fourthly we have our miscellaneous products, again there are three:

4a     NGL (Natural Gas Liquids) which is split to recover propane, butane etc. which is then called LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas). This is sent to the mainland as vehicle fuel, powers our boats and is used on the miners for various purposes.  Total exports 4 thousand tons per day.

4b    Hydrogen is produced in vast quantities in the OxyCell process.  Some of it (currently 3 thousand tons per day), is used by the miners and GLS's as a zero emissions fuel.  The rest is delivered to the mainland by pipeline.  This has been a progressively expanding market for us.

4c     Carbon Dioxide - all CO₂ produced is recovered and pumped down a pipeline for sequestration in the deep ocean, where it joins the underlying ocean currents and is locked up in the form of hydrates.  The scientists say it will not re-emerge for some centuries. All the Carbon in the River Gas is recovered; the total liquefied and sequestered is 250 thousand tons per day, that's 90 million tons per year!"

The figures are amazing. The OIM is beginning to sound like a salesman, which come to think of it, must be part of his job.  He hands you a schematic with the figures on it, saying

"That sheet gives you all the data you need on LP Central"                                             <see attached>

How will you utilise the additional River Gas, as further miners come on line?

"Aha! That is where the Northern Platform comes into the picture.  Up 'til now, we have been expanding our onshore energy supply (Hydrogen and Electricity) as the Government has been progressively closing the 'old-tech' power utilities.  However, the entire region has now been converted, and further expansion will be very gradual.

So from next year, Northern Platform will start taking gas for Aluminium smelting, and will ramp up its operations to match future gas availability.  It will also use advanced Oxycell to facilitate CO₂ recovery, producing Electricity and Hydrogen as intermediate products.  This gives us the opportunity, without the commitment, to deliver more power to the mainland by diverting it from Northern Platform.  A very flexible solution!"

The OIM glows again!  'Why aluminium?', you want to know.

"Smelting is a pretty power-hungry process.  Bauxite is plentiful in the region, and there are several onshore operations, using hydro-power.  The Government is keen to expand the business, but cannot afford further environmental impact onshore.  Out here, however, we can control things better. All by-products will be recycled."

How do the economics of Methane Mining work? you ask.

"Well, the original investment was funded half by the Brazilian Government and half by the World Carbon Trading Bank… in fact, most of the revenue from the CO₂ sequestration (which at $10 per tonne is worth a lot) goes to pay for the WCTB loan.  Likewise the gas export is taken by the Government in return for its loan. However, our operating costs are well covered by the electricity and NGL sales, leaving a reasonable profit. 

What has surprised us though, is the wood export.  We had half expected originally that we might have to 'bury' the excess wood in the deep water where it would not rot, as a form of carbon sequestration.  However, in the event it has proved a popular fuel with a green image, although we insist on the recipients recovering the CO₂ from any use of the fuel.

The quality of the reclaimed hardwood tree trunks has to be seen to be believed.  We are exporting more cubic metres of furniture quality timber from here than is produced by any other country in the world… and all without felling one tree from the rainforest!  Nature did all the work for us centuries ago.

So overall the economics are good enough for us to finance the next installation ourselves; the new Aluminium Plant at HP Central will be a $1½ billion phased investment."

You have a lot more questions.  The OIM seems happy to oblige.

How do you store the hydrogen you mentioned?

"The rig is located over a gas field; there is a deep reservoir which we can use as a gas buffer, and a shallower depleted reservoir where we store hydrogen."

How many jobs has the Methane Mining created?

§         380 on Central plus 85 on the Wave Barrier and 8 on tugs.	=380+85+8	473
§         74 Miners with say 24 operators plus families	=74*24	2476
§         9 SL crews of say 8 men	=9*8	72
§         75 at the shore base, including administration	75	75
Grand Total  3,100 in round numbers:- all skilled jobs	=sum()	3096

Plus, of course, all the spin-offs.  You must have seen whole families on those miners, and the timber trade is flourishing, and of course tourism is way up now that the area is 'clean and green', and the local people have taken renewed pride in looking after their environment.  Altogether, a significant contribution to the local economy"

What about the impact of the CO₂ on the ocean?

"Here in Central, we are on the continental shelf and the water is only 40m deep, but within 100km it has plunged to over 4000 metres.  The liquid CO₂ is released into this abyss and forms a stable crystalline hydrate which floats away like snow in the current.  We have found 'hydrate glaciers' forming in valleys downstream of the discharge point, and have every hope that it will be down there for a long time, or at least until it's needed in the atmosphere again to counteract a future ice age!  There are no volcanic vents in the region and we have never observed any animal life to be affected by the deposits.  We keep a constant eye on proceedings with underwater robots"

What happens when the gas runs out?

"Good question!  You must remember that our priority here is to gather up methane which is in danger of leaking into the atmosphere, especially in view of rising temperatures and more extreme weather.  Consequently we are only mining the top 200m or so of the river sediment.  In places it is more than 500m thick, and there is reason to suspect that there is more gas the further down you go.  So after the first pass we will probably do the following, or a combination of all four:

a)      Extend the concession into more remote areas - by then we will be able to show that our techniques are not environmentally damaging - there is about the same area again to be mined.

b)      Rework the first concession at a greater depth.

c)      Harvest the methane hydrate from the deeper waters along this stretch of the coast.

d)      Use a greater proportion of wood in the gasification process.

The miners are designed to have a 200 year life, and there seems to no danger of running out of gas before then."

You mention Hot Cells and PEM cells, what are these?

"Aha, they are both forms of Fuel Cell; the Hot Cells are Solid Oxide fuel cells (SOFC's) which operate best at about 1000°C as distinct from the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) cells which run fairly cool.  But the best person to answer that sort of technical question is the Production Manager who is going to take you on a quick tour which is arranged for 4 o'clock.  Best if you get a bite to eat first; it can be quite a hike.  Let's go down to the mess and meet him there."

You make your way along seemingly identical corridors.  The OIM is commenting all the way things like "Radio room", "First Aid", "Security".  We are in the living quarters at one end of the platform with the heli-deck on top, well removed from the process plant at the other end.

The mess is light and spacious; various groups are at tables eating and chatting.  A tall dark-haired man comes over to our table by the window. "Thought I may as well introduce myself, although it's a few minutes early yet; Francisco Gomes, Production Manager."

You are soon on first name terms; it's easy to get along with this man, although also clear that he would not tolerate fools gladly.

"OK, so while we have the luxury of sitting here in the cool, let's get you up to speed on the OxyCell Process, the heart of our operation.  Here's a simplified diagram"

The OIM makes his excuses; he has heard this many times before!

"If you want to reclaim all the CO₂ from your combustion process, it is easier if you avoid getting Nitrogen mixed into it.  Most combustion processes use air and end up with an exhaust containing at least 8 Nitrogens for every CO2… complicated and costly to separate."