Dear Mr. Clinton

Lake Kivu is unique: its deep waters contain an enormous quantity of dissolved gas. There are, in fact, 65 billion cubic metres of methane, in other words the equivalent of 50 million tonnes of petrol (tep) lying at the bottom of the lake under 250 m of water.

Several option can be studied, depend of the lac layer analysis and the production strategy in order to guaranty the lac stability, one of option is the extraction of Methane rich Layer :

Inthiscaseonlydesorptionofthesaturatedlayerisrequiredtoseparatemethanefromthewater,sameCO2isalsopresentinthegasphase.

We can enhance the gas purification by adding a washing column. The project proposes the immersion of the entire system (separator and washing column) at a shallow depth. the fact of working entirely under water has numerous advantages : The volume of gas freed by the separator and needing to be washed decreases the pressure of the gas rises, so the transport by gas pipeline to the shore is made easier washing and transport operations can be achieved with a minimum of energy from the exterior. The richness in methane of the gas mixture is directly optimised at the separator the efficacy of putting the CO2 into solution in the washing column is increased. Methane being 25 times less soluble in water than carbon dioxide, its ex-solution should occur before that of CO2.

Please refer to the following link http://vimeo.com/74334165 to show a video presented the general principle of gas extraction used in kivuwatt project in Rwanda, In EPPM, we have develop the GDF gas dissolved flotation that can be used in oil-water separation, this technology is the base of Methane CO2-Water separation. We have develop offshore platforms, and we have big reference in onshore and offshore gas industry, in additional about our knowledge in pipeline, power plant (Generator sets, Gas Turbine simple cycle or combined cycle power plant) and electric distribution grid Best regards