Engineers Remove Methane from African Lake

摘要

Two million Rwandans and an untold number of refugees currently reside near a natural time bomb. The quantity of dissolved methane and carbon dioxide in the depths of Lake Kivu-on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo-is sufficient to produce a deadly gas cloud as large as 300 km~3. A major eruption of the gas is expected within the next two centuries. A team of engineers from around the world has devised a way not only to avert this potential catastrophe but also to provide Rwanda with a source of electricity that could save it approximately $60 million annually.