Natural Gas: The Signs They Are A-Changin

Kate and Chris say that the issue boils down to educating the public. Struggling small farmers are tempted by the quick money to be made from leasing their land to gas companies. But once they learn about the risks of fracking, they often reconsider.

This is why we need a program to start up biomass derived methane and other hydrocarbon fuels. The technology has existed for hundreds of millions of years and longer for methanogenic bacteria and pyrolysis. Methanogenic bacteria is essentially the part of the composting process that takes place in the absence of oxygen. This produces methane from any bio matter including cellulose. So feed stocks consist of wood, grass, leaves, sewage, garbage, etc. This is a source of income for the farmers, transporters, and processors in these local communities. The gas can be connected to the gas pipelines or used in SOFC to produce electricity.

Pyrolysis involves taking this same biomass feed stock and heating it to about 500 degrees C in the absence of oxygen. It produces a mixture of hydrocarbon fuels in the gas and liquid phases, NG and very light petroleum. Again this creates a local energy based economy that can not be moved off shore. It reduces the sewage handling and garbage disposal problems, provides local landowners an income from their idle property, and gives the local community an export product and energy source.