An untapped source of Methane that could provide more energy than all of the known petroleum reserves is_____?

Question

1.deep sea methane clathrates
2.recycling of plastic containers
3.anal emissions of bovine cattle
4.the atmosphere of the moon
5.photooxidation of coal mining residues

If you find a link give it to me.

Answer 1

1. Deep Sea Methane clathrates.

From the Discovery or Science Channel, I forget which one.
They are huge blocks of frozen methane found at the extreme depths of the ocean that lay along the bottom like blue-green boulders.

The problem is that if the boulders are taken away from the bottom of the sea floor they will melt and gasify quickly so you will have to capture them in a gas tight pod and then bring them to the surface to use them. This is why no one has tested the technology yet, it is only a concept.

Recycling plastic will give you plastic jugs. You would not only have to melt it you would need to gasify it extract any methane and that extraction process would be difficult at best.

Bovine do provide a lot of Methane but making the cow wear a gas proof diaper would be a bit of a problem.

The moon has a trace atmosphere at best and getting it to the earth would be more expensive than the power it would provide the earth. Water found on the moon or Mars would be a requirement for any stable base there. There is no recoverable methane worth discussing. Jupiter and Saturn have gigatons of methane, but they are a long way to go for some gas.

I haven't heard of photooxidation of coal mining residues, and doubt it would work; after all coal is pretty stable when exposed to light and air (photo and oxidation). The residue of coal mining is not that useful. The proper way to use coal is to gasify it and capture the CO2 which can be feed directly to plants (Popular Science) or pumped back into the ground maybe to push old oil reserves up from wells that have almost run dry (Science Channel). Methane is one of the gases that can be recovered by mostly the hydrogen is what is sought, since that is what burns the best. Methane is a hydrogen and carbon molecule and so burning it creates CO2.

Answer 2

The first one is a huge source of energy, unfortunately it would be very difficult to tap into.

Also, originalsmartie does not really know what she's talking about. Plastics do not normally contain methane, and it actually costs energy to recycle plastic (the benefit is we don't have to make more, which will save the environment because they aren't biodegradable). There are some biodegradable plastics, but they aren't in use because of the cost overhead. The pumps at the dump she mentioned are to collect methane from degrading organics, not plastics.

Also, cows producing methane is not a myth at all. It's just there would be no convenient way of extracting enough methane for it to be of much use right now. Even if we perfected it, the amount of methane in the clathrates trump this immensely.

Answer 3

My guess would be #2. Have you seen the methane pumps at the dump? BUT, according to articles, #1 would be the best choice--as deep in the earth there are many supplies of methane. Choice #3 is an urban myth

http://www.physorg.com/news1166.html

Answer 4

One for sure, but I have heard things about the cattles anal emmisions so that is also possible.