Monday, January 21, 2013

Turning Methane into Fuel

By Scotty Lavino


Global warming has been a serious topic of discussion ever since Al Gore invented the Internet....Okay, maybe it started well before that, like during the industrial revolution when we started using oil based fuel and factory manipulated foods to feed the masses. The largest contributor the green-house effect is not vehicle emissions, but biological waste from landfills, waste-water plants and excrement of the nearly 2 billion cows that supply our fast food fix and dairy products. The Scientific American reported figures from 2006 indicating the waste from cattle contribute nearly 22% of all greenhouse gases.

As recently reported on ABC News, there has been a demonstration turning methane, produced by waste water treatment, into a usable fuel for cars and electricity at the same time. This process routes the methane produced by the waste water plant into high-temperature fuel cells. Being that the molecular make-up of Methane is CH4 (1 part Carbon, 4 parts Hydrogen); the hydrogen is then separated and sent through tubes directly to a filling station. A treatment facility in California is now fueling up to 150 cars a day AND supplying it's own electricity at the same time.

The National Fuel Cell Research Center at University of California/Irvine opened the station in conjunction with and support of the Orange County Sanitation District. The technology is expected to produce hydrogen fuel that competes with the cost of gasoline. The cost effectiveness is especially important to compete with gasoline since The Environmental Protection Agency finalized rules to nearly double the fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks by 2025 to 54.5 miles per gallon!

President Obama approved research and development funding in the fall of 2012 for a new source of natural gas, methane hydrates. He described this as "the world's largest untapped fossil energy resource".

Methane Hydrates are 3D ice-lattice structures found in on-shore & off-shore ocean sediments worldwide. When melted, these structures turn into liquid water and release methane molecules as a gas. The grant follows a successful attempt from April 2012, when many large companies working together, to include ConocoPhillips, separated natural gas from methane hydrates.

There estimated 22,000 waste-water treatment facilities in the USA alone. With further research and perfections, we will be on our way to a greener planet. On a smaller scale, a few farmers have designed their own systems of waste-energy by using the excrement from their cows to perform a similar process, producing enough electricity to operate their farms.

A new, clean, inexpensive and abundant fuel source is crucial for Earth's survival; however, creating a clean useable fuel from the already harmful emissions such as methane, is a LEAP in the right direction.




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