The Oil Drum

107 comments on US Natural Gas: The Role of Unconventional Gas

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WNC Observer on May 18, 2008 - 7:16am

Don't forget the renewable methane resource - biogas. It is a mature technology, already in operation throughout the world.

I doubt that biogas has the potential to replace more than a fraction of our present non-renewable methane use. Nevertheless, it can provide us a floor to which we can level off once the non-renewable methane resources decline in earnest.

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kdolliso on May 18, 2008 - 8:14am

Biogas could surprise. I read, somewhere, there are 100 million cattle in the U.S. I don't know how many would be available for manure recovery, and anaerobic digestion, but I'm guessing the number is significant.

Of course, there is, also, landfill, sewage, and opportunities to utilize dedicated crops for biomass as is being done in Germany.

We're going to be on this little planet for a long time (we hope,) so it seems to me that it just makes sense to use as many renewables as we can.

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BC_EE on May 18, 2008 - 12:12pm

We're working on this now in BC. Our first projects are using cellulostic feed stock (wood waste from saw mills), but this is a limited source. The process is being optimized for each feedstock source such as sugarcane waste, municipal organic waste, or sewage sludge.

However, our process is different in that we don't require gas scrubbing or the FT process. More importantly, the gas is a good output, but the main product will be bio-char (charcoal). Once thought a nuisance output (until I got involved), the oil outputs will have great applicability.

The light fraction is equivalent to #2 Heating Oil, the heavy fraction might be blended with Bunker C, or used in road paving, etc. BC has a large ferry fleet (larger than the Canadian Navy) and using this fuel will go a long way to help meet the renewable fuel mandates set out by the provincial government.

Still I advise extreme caution about the volumes that can be produced. We have to be careful about maintaining sustainability. Yet, this process might allow us to make a soft landing if we can power down and turn the corner.