Confinement Effects on Carbon Dioxide Methanation: A Novel Mechanism for Abiotic Methane Formation.

ABSTRACT: An important scientific debate focuses on the possibility of abiotic synthesis of hydrocarbons during oceanic crust-seawater interactions. While on-site measurements near hydrothermal vents support this possibility, laboratory studies have provided data that are in some cases contradictory. At conditions relevant for sub-surface environments it has been shown that classic thermodynamics favour the production of CO₂ from CH₄, while abiotic methane synthesis would require the opposite. However, confinement effects are known to alter reaction equilibria. This report shows that indeed thermodynamic equilibrium can be shifted towards methane production, suggesting that thermal hydrocarbon synthesis near hydrothermal vents and deeper in the magma-hydrothermal system is poss

SUBMITTER: Le T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5566444 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature