Science Forums 2

[Moontanman]

Modest addressed most of these things but I would like to add a few qualifiers of my own.

2. What are the primary sources of Methane gas?

3. Is there enough to supply the entire nation, or is something like this intended to be more of a supplement to fossil fuels?

4. Do we have to rely on natural sources of Methane, or can it be manufactured?

Natural gas is currently the primary source of methane, I don't subscribe to the fossil fuel theory but it does mostly come from the ground. It can however be made by methanogen bacteria. i disagree that ethanol cam be made easier than methane. almost anything organic can be used to make methane the best ethanol producers have to have sugar in them or be able to be turned into sugar at some stage. Methane can also be recovered easier than ethanol from culture. Methane can also be produced from old land fills.

5. Methane is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2. Should we be concerned about increasing global warming if Methane fuel were to become widely used?

Accidental release of methane would not be significant compared to natural sources but hydrogen can cause significant ozone depletion problems on a par with or worse than chlorine containing chemicals. Hydrogen is also very difficult to contain and will migrate through even solid metal and is often lost at fill up time. Better electric cars with hybrid engines run off methane would seem to be the gold standard if batteries never come on line with enough capacity to power a long range car.

6. What are the advantages/disadvantages of Methane vs. Hydrogen as a fuel

.

Methane is easier to contain and make, spilling methane isn't a big deal compared to natural sources, hydrogen is difficult to contain, spilling hydrogen is a grave threat to the ozone layer, hydrogen must be stored at higher pressures and or lower temperatures than methane. some processes negate this difficultly but similar technology for methane would make methane better still.