# Officer, I SWEAR Its Powdered Methane NOT Methamphetamine!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-i-swear-its-powdered-methane-not-methamphetamine/474909>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 29, 2008, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-i-swear-its-powdered-methane-not-methamphetamine/474909 "2008-11-29T08:53:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-i-swear-its-powdered-methane-not-methamphetamine/474909/1 "2008-11-29T08:53:39Z")

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[Scientists invent powdered methane.](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081120073126.htm)

> [@](#):
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> Chemists at the University of Liverpool have developed a way of converting methane gas into a powder form in order to make it more transportable.
> 
> Scientists have developed a material made out of a mixture of silica and water which can soak up large quantities of methane molecules. The material looks and acts like a fine white powder which, if developed for industrial use, might be easily transported or used as a vehicle fuel.

From reading the article, it appears that the stuff only works at about the freezing point of water, which presumably means that the moment it heats up, it starts giving off the trapped methane. Unless they can figure out a way to get it working at warmer temps, I can’t see it being useful outside of places like Alaska.

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-i-swear-its-powdered-methane-not-methamphetamine/474909/2 "2008-11-29T09:09:15Z")

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Sounds a bit like [Methane Clathrate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_hydrate).

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**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-i-swear-its-powdered-methane-not-methamphetamine/474909/3 "2008-11-29T09:14:43Z")

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I think the idea is that you use a refrigerator to powder it and then transport the powder in something insulated/refrigerated. Heck, if a powdered molecule is significantly smaller, you could possibly put a full semi-trailer’s worth of gaseous methane in an ice chest in the back of an ice cream truck. Given that they say that a single grain soaks up a “large quantity” of gas, this sounds like it might be possible.