Methane-powered cars?

Question

Would it be reasonable to gather methane gas from human and animal waste, compress it (IE using solar power not fossil fuels to run the gas compression machine), and use it to power small (IE almost scooter-sized) cars that go 40-50mph?

You would think this would be much easier to do than, say, using energy-consuming electrolysis to get Hydrogen out of water and then yet more energy to compress it into a hydrogen fuel cell...

Answer 1

Yes it would. There are such cars now. I recall seeing a Honda Civic that ran on compressed natural gas (which is mostly methane). Such cars use natural gas and not biologically generated methane because that is where 99%+ of the methane used in the world comes from. But it is not only cars; biologically generated methane would be useful as a replacement for ALL natural gas uses, like heating, cooking, and electricity generation. It could just be fed into the existing natural gas system because natural gas is mostly methane anyway. Methane would even make a good rocket fuel, and NASA is working with some small companies to develop methane rocket engines. The challenge is to make enough methane to replace all the natural gas we use now. It would be VERY good for the environment and probably good for the ecconomy too, if it could be done efficiently. The problem is that it cannot be done efficiently on a large enough scale. The effort and time needed to collect all the biological waste and process it into methane and then dispose of the sludge that would be left over is just WAY greater than the effort and time needed to drill a gas well and just pipe the gas to a tank.

Answer 2

its very smart you should pitch it we need to do something with the waste instead of killing the earth

Answer 3

Very smart... it's a good idea because we aren't becoming any less wasteful!

Answer 4

The question is how much energy it would take to capture and prepare the methane.

btw: burned methane is not as smelly as unburned methane. Unless you ignite your insides, your farts do not smell anything like a methane powered engine.

Answer 5

The buses where I live run on natural gas.  It takes energy to harvest natural gas or methane and solar power is nowhere near being able to take on that job.  Solar power is not efficient at all and is a supplement, at best, for becoming a viable energy source.  Hydrogen cars are a joke.  They will never become reality.  Electric vehicles are better but we won't see them for quite a while.

Answer 6

it would smell horrible, methane is the gas you f**t

Answer 7

I am gassy enough you could simply run a hose from the driver's seat right to the engine intake and run the car that way.  If you can get that to work for everybody, we could be converting biomass in fhe form of beans directly into fuel for our cars without any machinery except the hose.

Answer 8

If it happened, I think a good stocks to invest in would be B&M and Van Camps Pork and Beans, all natural and turbocharged for that extra kick when it goes in and comes out!