Abstract
The ship-transportation of natural gas in the form of methane hydrate may replace liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation. We investigated the framework of methane hydrate utility system and the outline of main elemental technologies on transportation of methane hydrate. Moreover, the methane hydrate transporting systems consisting of the elemental technologies were screened to provide the practical routes. Two systems which consist of bulk-carrying and off-loading by re-gasification and one with exclusive containers are promising because they include less processes and have larger net load capacity.
