Submitted by redingerforcongress t3_ydo0xd in Futurology
darth_nadoma t1_itthi44 wrote
Reply to comment by NickWrightData in Move over, diesel: Ohio gets ‘first of its kind’ renewable gas station by redingerforcongress
They are producing it from manure.
I remember writing a paper in college on production of fuel methane from Food Waste.
There are big facilities that make methane from food waste and then use the methane to produce electricity in Barcelona, Catalonia.
Methane Gas from cow manure is how a lot of rural electrification was achieved in India 🇮🇳. It also allowed some peasants to produce their own gas to cook with.
NickWrightData t1_itti3ie wrote
That's actually pretty neat! Thanks!
Enlightened-Beaver t1_ituj25d wrote
Any organic matter can produce RNG: food waste, manure, crop residues, forestry residues, etc. many municipalities have passed rules to divert food waste from going to landfill, since this would produce methane and other GHGs when decomposing. So the waste either goes to composting or to one of these digesters to produce natural gas. We produce an insane amount of food and farm waste, this is putting it to good use. It’s renewable because we are constantly producing this waste. Combusting methane does produce CO2, but compared to the CH4 that would be created from this waste breaking down in a landfill, this is many many times less harmful for the environment. When people talk about reducing your carbon footprint it’s not just CO2, there’s carbon in methane too (CH4).
Keeperofthe7keysAf-S t1_itv0qib wrote
It's actually beneficial because that carbon would be released anyways as part of the carbon cycle but you're skipping the first 20 years as methane and it's 80x more potent green house effect by burning it.
NickWrightData t1_itv05mm wrote
I think the problem is I've ever connected Methane to Natural Gas in my head. Thank you!
Enlightened-Beaver t1_itv62s9 wrote
Haha yeah Methane = CH4 = Natural gas. Same thing
joaopeniche t1_ittv6xt wrote
Some Indian metane gas bioreactor are some steam punk amazing things
Enlightened-Beaver t1_ituiml9 wrote
There’s hundreds of similar facilities in North America too, and thousands across Europe. Biogas is not exactly a new thing.
darth_nadoma t1_ituixc1 wrote
It’s over a hundred years old. But now it’s the heyday
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