Methane harvester

[kww]

While playing around in the pond yesterday I came up with an awsome idea, in my opinion. I was poking the pond bottom noticing with each little poke LOTS(for chemlec, about a 1/2 liter per poke of big bubbles of methane would float up. So here's the idea: the bottoms of ponds, sewers, creeks, rivers, lakes, and oceans is disturbed, the methane floats up and collects in a "hood"(big floating ring with a thin plastic cover) and is removed, cleaned, dried, and compressed. These machines could be made to run by themselves and even run off the gas they collect, endlessly filling cylinders. There you go, OU.

[adam666]

'pond scum' is being researched for providing h2, but thats the float on top bits not bottom.

easiest way to harvest methane is to build a tank setup for all degradeables, cant remember what its called (the method) but my cousin is trying different ideas with a 'dairy farm' at the moment.

plenty of cows = plenty of poos = plenty of power

hmm, should be able to claim 'carbon credits' too as your not releasing all the methane to atmosphere!!

Id actually invisioned 'cow balloons', a system which collects faeces from the animal as its wandering round etc, and collects gas from it in a back mounted balloon type setup, and gets emptied when they get milked (gas to storage, poos to methane tank steup)

:p

all food for thought....

[kww]

That BIG tank is probably the greatest expense by far I'd bet in such a methane setup. Btw, in case you didn't know methane is CH4, 1 carbon atom surrounded by 4 hydrogen. Also, H can easily be made from CH4 according to a show I just saw, so maybe that pond scum is from the bottom. There's really not any scum on top, unless it's a very thin film. Without the tank and having to fill the tank, not to mention cleaning it, a LOT can be saved. Collecting bubbles is easy. I could build a contraption to pull behind my boat with stuff I already have....hmmmmmm I've got about 3 acres of pond and anywhere you poke a burst of bubbles will come up. I could become my own gas company. Hehehe Got to train the wife to stomp around in the pond while holding a trash can upside down over her head(breathing tube required). LOL That's probably not going to happen.

[kevinsatterfield]

[Loster]

What kind of algae !? ..

If there are any kind ..

[Loster]

I wonder, because there is this lake, and when I take water out of it for electrolysis ; Algae are created on one of the electrode. . !! ..

Strange, but true .. They are created in real time ...

[bonehead]

I heard that most organic life in water produces hydrogen as a means of floatation. In a few instances, it's produced as a byproduct of other processes.

It's worth looking into. All that's required for algea production is water, light and an acceptable temperature.

You could easily test it with a gallon jug with a baloon stretched over the top. Set it in the house in front of a window and see if the baloon expands. It will take couple of days for the algea to grow well but once it starts, it wont stop until all of the oxygen is gone.

It would be neat if it is that simple.