Methane , a compound generated by human and animal excrement and urban waste, could replace fossil fuels or send rockets into space while avoiding the effect on climate change. Some studies indicate that large quantities of methane hidden in permafrost (frozen underground), under the seabed or in frozen lakes in the Arctic could be escaping into the atmosphere, precisely because of the effect of climate change .
You may also be interested in: Do renewable energies pollute the environment?
Hydrogen methane reserves are estimated to be twice the size of other fossil fuels worldwide and have a very high combustion capacity, which could be used as fuel and to produce various gases and industrial substances .
When it is extracted from its natural location, the conditions under which it remained bound disappear, so that methane can be used as a source of energy. The main sources of methane are:
- Decomposition of organic waste
- Natural sources (swamps): 23%
- Extraction of fossil fuels : 20% (methane was traditionally burned and emitted directly. Today, attempts are made to store it as much as possible in order to reuse it by forming so-called natural gas).
- Processes in animal digestion and defecation. 17%. (Especially cattle).
- Bacteria in rice plantations: 12 %
- Anaerobic digestion of biomass Its chemical formula is CH4.
What is Methane?
Methane (from the Greek methy meaning wine, and the suffix -ane) is the simplest alkane hydrocarbon with the chemical formula CH. Each hydrogen atom is covalently bonded to carbon. It is a nonpolar substance that occurs as a gas at ordinary temperatures and pressures. It is colorless, odorless, and insoluble in water. In nature it is produced as the end product of the anaerobic putrefaction of plants. This natural process can be used to produce biogas. Many anaerobic microorganisms generate it using CO as the final electron acceptor.
