I've been reading about making methane as a source of renewable energy but it seems to produce a fair amout of CO2 as well as other pollutants, is it really an enviromentaly friendly means of creating sustainable energy?
2006-10-25 03:25:16 · 4 answers · asked by max b 1 in Environment
If you make the methane out of organic waste, or even out of plant material, then it is environmentally friendly. That is because the carbon in that material originally came from the air. It was produced by taking carbon dioxide out of the air. So you are just participating in the renewable carbon cycle by taking carbon out of the air and then putting it back. It is only when you dig up coal, oil and gas that you unbalance the cycle. That is because the carbon in fossil fuel was taken out of the air millions of years ago compared to the carbon taken out 1 or 5 or 20 years ago in the organic waste.
2006-10-25 04:03:08 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When burning any hydrocarbons, you always have (generally) two byproducts: water and carbon dioxide. For example:
CH4 + 2O2 ---(heat)---> 2H2O + CO2 (methane and oxygen to water and carbon dioxide)
2C2H6 + 7O2 ---(heat)---> 6H2O + 4CO2 (ethane and oxygen to water and carbon dioxide)
2C4H10 + 13O2 ---(heat)---> 10H2O + 8CO2 (butane (used in cigarette lighters) and oxygen to water and carbon dioxide)
2C8H18 + 25O2 ---(heat)---> 18H2O + 16CO2 (octane (fuel in cars) and oxygen to water and carbon dioxide)
The byproducts of burning any alkane (basic hydrocarbon) to completeion of the chemical reaction will always be water and carbon dioxide.
Sometimes, because of impurities or limiting factors, the reaction will yeild carbon monoxide. This is why we have catalytic converters on our exhaust pipes of our cars. It converts the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide.
2006-10-25 03:45:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
methane is just as bad. it's one of the most released gree house gasses. guess why? because too many cows break wind.
2006-10-25 03:33:57 · answer #3 · answered by QueenB 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Neither are friendly to the enviornment in any useage.....it's a bummer but true.
2006-10-25 03:27:19 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋