Redefining the 'Natural' in '天然气'

Redefining the 'Natural' in '天然气'

The ‘natural’ in ‘natural gas’ helps remind us how this fossil fuel was formed, which required a 一系列事件 that took place over a matter of millions of years. But what if the process doesn’t have to?

从废物到天然气, more and more facilities are finding the loophole to energy efficiency as of recent years. 多亏了一种叫做“消化器’, we are able to transform organic materials such as plants or animal wastes into biogas. 消化器通过使用biomethanation做某事, which is the process through which organic matter and waste is converted into gas after being heated at high temperatures.

如何 biogas compare to natural gas? 就像天然气一样, biogas is a mixture of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) that can be used as a fuel for cooking, 照明, 或者发电. Utilities can rest assured in the fact that biogas even has the ability to flow through natural gas pipelines. The only difference between natural and biogas is how they are produced.

One example of the utilization of 消化器 and biogas alike would include 生猪生产设施. The Circle Four hog finishing farm complex near Milford, 犹他州, 特别是, works by allowing two 10 million gallon anaerobic 消化器 to receive the manure from 350,并生产沼气, which eventually gets transformed into electricity. As a method that’s been used for nearly two decades in certain 生猪生产设施 across the country, it has shown to be effective. For instance, in 2014, four facilities produced enough biofuel to power approximately 8,000 U.S. 住户(一年)!

Another example of the use of 消化器 would be the efforts that a 加拿大魁北克省的一个小镇 has been making in order to convert expired yogurt and by-products into natural gas. Used specifically to heat municipal buildings and power vehicles, the city’s communications director estimates a total of 6,500 metric tons of yogurt to be transformed over the course of year, 哪个是375,000 cubic meters of natural gas at a city run biomethanation facility. 作为全市范围内的投资, the entire area should benefit from this environmental and profitable solution.

While natural gas is recognized as a non-renewable resource, biogas completely changes the playing field when it comes to producing energy. By allowing us to create a renewable natural gas, biogas helps us redefine the ‘natural’ in ‘natural gas’. The only side effect is that we might be seeing yogurt or cow manure in a whole different light!