Methane is a naturally occurring gas produced by the decay of organic material such as animal waste or plants. It is a fossil fuel like oil propane or butane. It can be used to produce mechanical or electrical power. It's chemical formula is CH4. One atom of carbon and 4 atoms of hydrogen. Like any gas it is best transported by pipeline or used where it is produced. Some attempts to harness methane involve laying out plant material in large sealed buildings and collecting it as the material decays. (see picture below) One problem with this is the material must be turned over every so often to help the material decay. As the material decays it gives off less and less methane. A methane silo eliminates the need to do this. A methane silo works as any silo by gravity. The material is fed into the top and comes out the bottom. The difference is a methane silo would have long tubes of screen inside the silo to help expose the material to the air to help it decay and give off methane. This eliminates the need to turn it.

The silo would be square. The columns of material would extend the length of one side. The ends of the columns would face 2 sides opposite each other. The top would be shaped like a roof so the material would distribute evenly down each column. The entire space containing the material would be airtight. A plenum would be placed at the 2 ends facing all columns. One plenum at the bottom and the other at the top. The bottom plenum would allow air in when methane is being withdrawn from the top. There would be a series of valves controlled by electronics. Once material has completely filled the airtight space, a vacuum pump creates a vacuum. As methane is produced pressure builds up. When it gets high enough valves on both plenums open and remove methane. When pressure drops, the valves close and the vacuum pump creates another vacuum. This process concentrates the methane and reduces the amount of unwanted gas (air) in the final product.

Every check that goes out the door at the end of the month is another link in the ball and chain of our system. Reducing energy costs for small businesses and small business owners would do more to help the economy than one tax cut for Exxon Mobil. It would help to break up these big companies. Waiting for the government to break them up is hopeless. Putting them out of business with alternative technology is more practical. It used to be that people understood that being your own boss was much better than working for a big company. There is no crime in owning a small business. As fossil fuels run out the ability of big corporations to move things around will go with them. A localized economy is coming to a neighborhood near you. People will be forced to go back to traditional occupations such as farmer, butcher etc.

The chemical makeup of methane is CH4. One atom of carbon and 4 atoms of hydrogen. Coal is mostly carbon. If someone could come up with a process to separate the carbon from the hydrogen it could be mixed with some type of bio material to create synthetic coal. We are running out of natural deposits of coal and most of the worlds electricity is generated by coal.