Is there an economic benefit to capture and use of methane from composting of agricultural waste?

Question

Which option below is better for the local economy and reduces greenhouse gas (CH4) emissions?

1. spread agricultural waste on fields to decompose into methane, and organic compounds containing N and P and import fossil fuels from a foreign supplier for heating and transportation.

2. Compost the agricultural waste in a composter, capture the methane and use it for local heating and transportation , and then spread the organic compounds containing N and P on the fields.

Answer 1

number one because it creates opportunity for sin tax.

and punitive taxes are the point.

Answer 2

presented the way you have, obviously  #2  is preferable.

i wasn't sure that one could capture the methane, then use the resulting fertilizer also.

i'd assume that there's also a cost associated with the "temporary storage" of waste to recover the methane, and the double movement of it.

as opposed to just plowing it under.

i'd assume that where you have large feed lots, this would be a pretty good idea.

out on the farm, it would be less attractive.

other than getting shipments of the stuff.

maybe one could do some sort of analysis of the oil used to create and distribute fertilizer compared to the trucking and distribution of what must be a relatively less dense amount of nutrients in the animal waste.

i think it's not a simple comparison, but i really don't know.

Answer 3

Either or. Methane dissipates in the earth's atmosphere. The UV rays will cause that. I would preferably go with the first choice in order to create agriculture. I am also in favor of creating composting toilets and turning sewage treatment plants into energy plants. There is  nothing wrong with using fecal fuel. What else are they going to do with our poo? In some societies, they'll just let it seep back into the water supply.

Answer 4

natural gas or methan

Natural gas is a conventional fuel, mostly consisting of methane (along with other thanes), and is derived pretty much the same way as oil. ie. Matter (animal, plant etc) decomposes over time resulting in a anaerobic (hope I spelled that right) decay of non-fossil organic material / gas (natural gas or methane).

The following is a clip I cut out of a how to run your car on alternative energy guide I wrote a little while back. It may help as well...

Alternative Fuels, also known as non-conventional fuels, are any materials or substances that can be used as a fuel, other than conventional fuels. Conventional fuels include: fossil fuels (petroleum (oil), coal, propane, & natural gas), & also in some instances nuclear materials such as uranium. Some well known alternative fuels include biodiesel, ethanol, butanol, chemically stored electricity (batteries & fuel cells), hydrogen, methane, natural gas, vegetable oil, biomass, & peanut oil.

Now alternative (or renewable) energy is a little different…

Renewable energy flows involve natural phenomena such as sunlight, wind, tides & geothermal heat. Each of these sources has unique characteristics which influence how & where they are used.

Short but sweet that’s the specifics of it. If you’re interested in using some form of alternative fuel or renewable energy in your vehicle or home, feel free to contact me. I live 100% off the grid on alternative energy and have converted many vehicles to run on biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen and EV.

In fact I currently run 2 trucks, my home hot water heater, home stove and home generator on hydrogen and one car is EV. I offer step by step DIY guides to walk anyone threw the process if you’re interested. You can find them at

www agua-luna com

There are basically 3 safe ways to make and use it... chemically, electrically and molecularly, the first 2 being easier so I'll only discuss them here. The fallowing steps were taking directly out of a DIY guide I offer to those who would like to run their vehicles or home on hydrogen safely. The entire guide is available at www agua-luna com

    On demand h2 generators are a bit different from the Hollywood versions like seen Chain Reaction with Keanu Reeves, that tend to explode violently every time a film is being made. However when used in an on-demand system there is no storage of hydrogen and oxygen in its gas form, only liquid (water) and is only transformed into gas “on-demand” in small cylinder size amounts. It’s actually safer then gasoline as it doesn’t evaporate, creating explosive fumes in the tank like gas. the following were actually taken out of my $5 guide available at www agua-luna com

    Chemically

    1. You’ll need a 6inch x 1ft schedule 40 pvc pipe. With pvc cement glue a cap on the bottom and use a s***w on cap for the top. Drill a small hole (1/4inch or so) in the side close to the top, s******g in a small copper shut off valve. Place a few feet of stranded (food grade is good) flex hose to the valve and into the air intake of your engine (carburetor or fuel injections).

    2. Now crunch up a couple aluminum cans (beer cans, soda cans etc) and drop them into the pvc pipe, along with a couple cups of lye (Red Devil drain opener has lye in it, some Clorox and Drano’s do to).

    3. Then simply add water, s***w on the top and wait a few minutes.

    What happens in simplicity is that aluminum and lye don’t really get along so they battle, and as always the innocent civilians (water H2O) that the most casualties, by giving up its hydrogen and oxygen. This then builds up in the void of the pipe and is ready to be vented into your engine, by opening the valve. You may need to start your engine on gas then switch it off after the hydrogen starts burning.

    Electrical is a bit easier then Chemically.

    1. Simply take a small solar panel 1.5 amps is what I use ($9 at harborfreight.com), connect the 2 wires from the panel +- to 2 conductors (carbon cores of batteries work well, just be careful removing it from the jacket), but any conductive material will work ie. Copper, aluminum, steel, etc.

    2. Drop the wires into a water tank (I use 55gal drums), make sure they don’t touch each other.

    3. Drill a small hole (1/4inch or so) in the side close to the top, s******g in a small copper shut off valve. Place a few feet of stranded (food grade is good) flex hose to the valve and into the air intake of your engine (carburetor or fuel injections).

    4. Then simply add water, s***w on the top cap and wait.

    After a few hours tiny bubbles will form and rise off one conductor (that’s hydrogen) and even smaller bubbles that just looks like foam will rise off the other (oxygen). I don’t remember which likes the positive and which likes the neg hydrogen or the oxygen.

    The third method is more complicated and is what I use for my vehicles. It’s just a modified Joe’s Cell, there’s a step by step DIY guide available to walk you threw the process here www agua-luna com

It also covers the other 2 methods described in more detail.

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at  www agua-luna com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin

Alterative Energy / Sustainable Consultant, Living 100% on Alternative & Author of How One Simple Yet Incredibly Powerful Resource Is Transforming The Lives of Regular People From All Over The World... Instantly Elevating Their Income & Lowering Their Debt, While Saving The Environment by Using FREE ENERGY... All With Just One Click of A Mouse...For more info Visit:  

www AGUA-LUNA com

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Answer 5

Properly done, composting does not produce methane, as methane comes from bacteria which do not do well with oxygen.  

If ag. waste is spread on fields, it may stink, since it is incompletely decomposed, or contain bacteria which could be harmful to people (e. coli or worse).  

I prefer composting, since it can also incorporate other materials (wood, paper) depending on the amount of nitrogen in the waste, and will not stink if done properly.  Also it release no methane.  

Methane can be obtained with a *biogas* digester, but it is a different process.  I expect the sludge leftover would not be as useful agriculturally as composting.

Answer 6

I don't get it...I thought methane is a greenhouse gas that we're supposed to be avoiding.  Now it's a solution, too?