Renewable energy Methanogen

Benfits of methan Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is plentiful and is an attractive fuel and raw material for chemicals because it is more efficient than oil, produces less pollution and could serve as a practical substitute for petroleum-based fuels until renewable fuels are widely useable and available.

Landfills. Landfills are the thirdlargest humanrelated source of methane in the U.S., accounting for 17 percent of all methane emissions in 2009. Methane is generated in landfills and open dumps as waste decomposes under anaerobic (without oxygen) conditions. The amount of methane created depends on the quantity and moisture content of the waste and the design and management practices at the site.

Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal,managing and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics. Waste management is a distinct practice from resource recovery which focuses on delaying the rate of consumption of natural resources. The management of wastes treats all materials as a single class, whether solid, liquid, gaseous or radioactive substances, and tried to reduce the harmful environmental impacts of each through different methods. COMMON Methods of disposal A landfill site (also known as tip, dump or rubbish dump )is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment. Historically, landfills have been the most common methods of organized waste disposal and remain so in many places around the world. Incineration Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials.[1] Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal

treatment". Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue gas, and heat. The ash is mostly formed by the inorganic constituents of the waste, and may take the form of solid lumps or particulates carried by the flue gas. The flue gases must be cleaned of gaseous and particulate pollutants before they are dispersed into the atmosphere. In some cases, the heat generated by incineration can be used to generate electric power.
Waste minimization is the process and the policy of reducing the amount of waste produced by a person or a society. Waste minimization involves efforts to minimize resource and energy use during manufacture. For the same commercial output, usually the fewer materials are used, the less waste is produced. Waste minimisation usually requires knowledge of the production process, cradle-to-grave analysis (the tracking of materials from their extraction to their return to earth) and detailed

knowledge of the composition of the waste. Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the process of creating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the incineration of waste source. WtE is a form of energy recovery. Most WtE processes produce electricity directly through combustion, or produce a combustible fuel commodity, such as methane, methanol, ethanol or synthetic fuels Anaerobic digestion Anaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen.[1] It is used for industrial or domestic purposes to manage waste and/or to release energy.
A. Permafrost, glaciers, and ice cores A source that slowly releases methane trapped in frozen environments as global temperatures rise. B. Wetlands Warm temperatures and moist environments are ideal for methane production. Most of the methane makes it past methane-consuming microorganisms. C. Forest fire Mass burning of organic matter releases huge amounts of methane into the atmosphere.[citation needed] D. Rice paddies The warmer and moister the rice field, the more methane is produced. E. Animals Microorganisms breaking down difficult to digest material in the guts of ruminant livestock and termites produce methane that is then released during defecation.

F. Plants While methane can be consumed in soil before being released into the atmosphere, plants allow for direct travel of methane up through the roots and leaves and into the atmosphere. Plants may also be direct producers of methane. G. Landfills Decaying organic matter and anaerobic conditions cause landfills to be a significant source of methane. H. Waste water treatment facilities Anaerobic treatment of organic compounds in the water results in the production of methane. I. Hydroxyl radical OH in the atmosphere is the largest sink for atmospheric methane as well as one of the most significant sources of water vapor in the upper atmosphere. J. Chlorine radical Free chlorine in the atmosphere also reacts with methane.
Natural sources of atmospheric methane

Most ecological emissions of methane relate directly to methanogens generating methane in warm, moist soils as well as in the digestive tracts of certain animals.
[edit] Methanogens

Methanogens are methane producing microorganisms. In order to produce energy, they use an anaerobic process called fermentation. This process is used in lieu of aerobic, or with oxygen, processes because methanogens are typically poor competitors for the substrates, or needed materials for chemical reactions, required for aerobic processes. When acetate is broken down in fermentation, the result is the release of methane into the surrounding environment.
[edit] Wetlands Main article: Wetland Methane Emissions

Wetlands account for approximately 20 percent of atmospheric methane through emissions from soils and plants.[3] Wetlands counteract the sinking action that normally occurs with soil because of the high water table. When the water table is low, the methane generated within the wetland soil has to come up through the soil and get past multitudes of methanotrophic bacteria. When the water table is higher, then the methane produced in the soil can more easily diffuse through the water and escape into the atmosphere.
[edit] Animals

Ruminant animals, particularly cows and sheep, contain bacteria in their gastrointestinal systems that help to break down plant material. Some of these microorganisms use the acetate from the plant material to produce methane, and because these bacteria live in the stomachs and intestines of ruminants, whenever the animal burps or defecates, it emits methane as well. The amount of methane emitted by one cow is equivalent to the amount of methane that 2.5 acres of methanotrophic bacteria can consume.

Termites also contain methanogenic microorganisms in their gut. However, some of these microorganisms are so unique that they live nowhere else in the world except in the third gut of termites. These microorganisms also break down biotic components to produce ethanol, as well as methane byproduct. However, unlike ruminants who lose 20 percent of the energy from the plants they eat, termites only lose 2 percent of their energy in the process.[4] Thus comparatively, termites do not have to eat as much food as ruminants to obtain the same amount of energy, and give off proportionally less methane.
[edit] Plants

Living plants (e.g. forests) have recently been identified as a potentially important source of methane, possibly being responsible for approximately 10 to 30 percent of atmospheric methane.[5] A 2006 paper calculated emissions of 62236 Tg a1, and "this newly identified source may have important implications".[6] [7] However the authors stress "our findings are preliminary with regard to the methane emission strength".[8] These findings have been called into question in a 2007 paper which found "there is no evidence for substantial aerobic methane emission by terrestrial plants, maximally 0.3% of the previously published values".[9] While the details of plant methane emissions have yet to be confirmed, plants as a significant methane source would help fill in the gaps of previous global methane budgets as well as explain large plumes of methane that have been observed over the tropics.[5][10] In wetlands, where rate of methane production are high, plants help methane travel into the atmosphereacting like inverted lightning rods as they direct the gas up through the soil and into the air. They are also suspected to produce methane themselves, but because the plants would have to use aerobic conditions to produce methane, the process itself is still unidentified.
[edit] Methane gas from methane clathrates See also: Arctic methane release and Clathrate gun effect

At high pressures, such as are found on the bottom of the ocean, methane forms a solid clathrate with water, known as methane hydrate. An unknown, but possibly very large quantity of methane is trapped in this form in ocean sediments. The release of large volumes of methane gas from such sediments into the atmosphere has been suggested as a possible cause for rapid global warming events in the Earth's distant past, such as the PaleoceneEocene Thermal Maximum of 55 million years ago, and the Great Dying. Theories suggest that should global warming cause them to heat up sufficiently, all of this methane gas could again be released into the atmosphere. Since methane gas is twenty-five times stronger (for a given weight, averaged over 100 years) than CO2 as a greenhouse gas; this would immensely magnify the greenhouse effect.

[edit] Permafrost

Methane that gets frozen in permafrost land that is frozen for several years at a time is slowly released from bogs as the permafrost melts. With rising global temperatures, the amount of permafrost melting and releasing methane continues to increase. Although records of permafrost are limited, recent years (1999 to 2007) have seen record thawing of permafrost in Alaska and Siberia. Recent measurements in Siberia show that the methane released is five times greater than previously estimated.[11] Melting yedoma, a type of permafrost, is a significant source of atmospheric methane (about 4 Tg of CH4 per year).
[edit] Anthropogenic sources of atmospheric methane

Slightly over half of the total emission is due to human activity.[2] Since the Industrial Revolution humans have had a major impact on concentrations of atmospheric methane. As a result, humans have acquired the ability to affect concentrations of other gases in the atmosphere as well. For example, because methane traps heat in the atmosphere, increased methane emissions increase the temperature of the atmosphere. And, because warmer climates hold more water vapor, through methane emissions humans can indirectly increase the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere as well.[5]
[edit] Ecological conversion

Conversion of forests and natural environments into agricultural plots increases the amount of nitrogen in the soil, which inhibits methane oxidation, weakening the ability of the methanotrophic bacteria in the soil to act as sinks. Additionally, by changing the level of the water table, humans can directly affect the soils ability to act as a source or sink. The relationship between water table levels and methane emission is explained in the wetlands section of natural sources.
[edit] Farm animals

Farming also acts to increase atmospheric methane through ruminant farm animals, such as sheep or cows. In 2006, the amount of methane emitted by farm animals alone exceeded that of the iron, steel, and cement industries combined.[4] Two reasons can explain this immense amount of methane emission: first, the mass collections of cattle that must be used to feed the meat industry, and second, changes in natural feeding habits. In order to reduce the costs associated with the large amounts of feed needed to support livestock, humans have begun adding more nitrogen to cattle feed. The addition of nitrogen to the feed causes the cattle to need less food to feel full. This increase in nitrogen, however, feeds not only the cattle, but also the microorganisms in their stomachs. More methane producing microorganisms means higher methane emissions. A 2006 UN FAO report reported that livestock generate more greenhouse gases as measured in CO2 equivalents than the entire transportation sector. Livestock accounts for 9 percent of anthropogenic CO2, 65 percent of anthropogenic nitrous oxide and 37 percent of anthropogenic

methane. A senior UN official and co-author of the report, Henning Steinfeld, said "Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems."[12] Recent NASA research has confirmed the vital role of livestock eructation (burping) in global warming. "We understand that other greenhouse gases apart from carbon dioxide are important for climate change today," said Gavin Schmidt, the lead author of the study and a researcher at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, NY and Columbia University's Center for Climate Systems Research.[13] Other recent peer reviewed NASA research published in the journal Science has also indicated that the contribution of methane to global warming has been underestimated.[14][15] Nicholas Stern, the author of the 2006 Stern Review on climate change has stated "people will need to turn vegetarian if the world is to conquer climate change".[16] President of the National Academy of Sciences Ralph Cicerone (an atmospheric scientist), has indicated the contribution of methane by livestock flatulence and eructation to global warming is a serious topic. Cicerone states Methane is the second-most-important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere now. The population of beef cattle and dairy cattle has grown so much that methane from cows now is big. This is not a trivial issue."[17]

Approximately 5% of the methane is released via the flatus, whereas the other 95% is released via eructation. Vaccines are under development to reduce the amount introduced through eructation.[18]
[edit] Rice agriculture

Due to a continuously growing world population, rice agriculture has become one of the most powerful anthropogenic sources of methane. With warm weather end water-logged soil, rice paddies act like wetlands, but are generated by humans for the purpose of food production. Due to the swamp-like environment of rice fields, this crop alone is responsible for approximately 50100 million metric tons of methane emission each year.[19] This means that rice agriculture is responsible for approximately 15 to 20 percent of anthropogenic methane emissions.[20] An article written by William F. Ruddiman explores the possibility that methane emissions started to rise as a result of anthropogenic activity 5000 years ago when ancient cultures started to settle and use agriculture, rice irrigation in particular, as a primary food source.[21]
[edit] Landfills

Due to the large collections of organic matter and availability of anaerobic conditions, landfills serve to be the largest source of atmospheric methane in the United States.[22] Even after a landfill is closed, the mass amount of decaying matter continues to emit methane for years. Although the methanotrophic bacteria in the surrounding soil does oxidize some of the methane, approximately 90 percent of the methane produced in landfills escapes through the landfill cover and into the atmosphere.[22]

[edit] Waste water treatment

Waste water treatment facilities act to remove organic matter, solids, pathogens, and chemical hazards as a result of human contamination. Methane emission in waste treatment facilities occurs as a result of anaerobic treatments of organic compounds and anaerobic biodegradation of sludge.[23]
[edit] Biomass burning

Incomplete burning of both living and dead organic matter results in the emission of methane. While natural wildfires can contribute to methane emissions, the bulk majority of biomass burning occurs as a result of humans- including everything from accidental burnings by civilians to deliberate burnings used to clear out land to biomass burnings occurring as a result of destroying waste.[10]
[edit] Natural gas distribution

Methane is a primary component of natural gas, and thus during the production, processing, storage, transmission, and distribution of natural gas, a significant amount of methane is lost into the atmosphere.[23] This is particularly true of the oil industry.
Methane [Natural Gas] is also used as a feedstock in petrochemical plants to create many different compounds and products, probably the most commonly known end product is the very large list of PLASTICS, as in the manufacture of plastic bags and the many different polyvinylchlorides which are used in many different types of containers.

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