What stinks?! Methane

Gas, the smelly stuff that can be embarrassing at times.  The gas you release, in part, is made of methane, and we can use it to heat our homes, run our industries.  NO, I don't have an invention to capture your gas.  Rather I've been suggesting for more than a decade that we convert all sewage treatment plants into methane production plants.

It would work like this:  sewage goes in, in the process of breaking things down methane is produced. Currently the methane is either vented or burned off.  In a methane production plant, that methane would be captured and put right into the network of natural gas pipes.  After all, natural gas is methane with a rotten egg smell added.

Once no more methane can be extracted, waste would then be directed through a greenhouse where plants would finish the job.  The carbon dioxide produced would also be piped into the greenhouse for the plants to use.  Some plants would be used to clean the water, while others would produce food.  This is not a hydroponic system, but a hybrid of soil and hydroponics.  The soil would be removed from-time-to-time, otherwise it would overflow, composted with some of the plants and put back onto fields to become food again.

Some people by now may be wondering if it really would be worth it.  Absolutely, and a number of countries already have methane plants or are building them.  Northern European countries, India and the U.S. where some farms with cattle or pigs are converting waste to methane and an improved fertilizer.

If this system were to be implemented, converting 100% of the poop to methane, it has been estimated we could produce 40 to 80% of our own natural gas.  The numbers vary because of a number of factors like, will animal poop be included, what type of industrial waste, human waste, and the miscellaneous factor – whatever else may end up flushed down the pipes, all play a factor in the methane production and the quality of the gas.

The research I have done shows we could meet at least half of our natural gas needs if poop from: (farm animals) cattle, sheep, horses, chicken, turkeys, pigs, hogs,  our poop, and all waste containing heavy metals or industrial chemicals would have to be treated separately.  We could produce a high quality methane that is suitable wherever natural gas is currently used.  We would also end up with a very high quality fertilizer.

So, why aren’t we doing it?