To capture methane emissions, scientists create nanoshell catalysts
A University at Buffalo–led research team is developing new catalysts that aim to turn climate-warming methane emissions into useful commercial products.
A University at Buffalo–led research team is developing new catalysts that aim to turn climate-warming methane emissions into useful commercial products.
Nanomaterials
Mar 28, 2024
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To "breathe" in an environment without oxygen, bacteria in the ground beneath our feet depend upon a single family of proteins to transfer excess electrons (produced during the "burning" of nutrients) to electric hairs called ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 20, 2024
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The population of Africa, the second-largest continent in the world, currently sits at about 1.4 billion, but is set to exceed 2 billion by 2040. This means greater swaths of land than ever before are being used for agriculture, ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 4, 2024
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Communities of microbes that live in ocean sediments can consume methane. In oxygen-deprived sediments these microbes form clusters, called aggregates, that can have deposits of silica on their surfaces. It is not clear if ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 28, 2024
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1
Most organic household waste ends up in landfills, where it generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Composting food and garden waste instead of sending it to landfills can significantly reduce methane emissions and ...
Environment
Mar 26, 2024
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Direct methane conversion has advantages such as low energy consumption, fewer processes, and better economics. However, it is difficult to activate methane at room temperature due to the high dissociation energy of C-H bonds ...
Analytical Chemistry
Mar 26, 2024
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New England's dairy industry continues to evolve in response to significant market challenges that include a decreased demand for milk and higher production and land costs. However, there is also ongoing evidence that organic ...
Agriculture
Apr 11, 2024
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From carmakers to fast fashion, dozens of major international companies are failing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions at the pace required to slow climate change, a report said Tuesday.
Environment
Apr 9, 2024
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Far more methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is being released from landfills and oil and gas operations around the world than governments realized, recent airborne and satellite surveys show. That's a problem for the climate ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 16, 2024
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The Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience at the University of Colorado Boulder along with Castalia Advisors were commissioned by WaterAid's Resilient Water Accelerator (RWA), the Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity ...
Environment
Mar 26, 2024
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9
Methane is a chemical compound with the molecular formula CH4. It is the simplest alkane, and the principal component of natural gas. Methane's bond angles are 109.5 degrees. Burning methane in the presence of oxygen produces carbon dioxide and water. The relative abundance of methane and its clean burning process makes it an attractive fuel. However, because it is a gas at normal temperature and pressure, methane is difficult to transport from its source. In its natural gas form, it is generally transported in bulk by pipeline or LNG carriers; few countries transport it by truck.
Methane was discovered and isolated by Alessandro Volta between 1776 and 1778 when studying marsh gas from Lake Maggiore.
Methane is a relatively potent greenhouse gas with a high global warming potential of 72 (averaged over 20 years) or 25 (averaged over 100 years). Methane in the atmosphere is eventually oxidized, producing carbon dioxide and water. As a result, methane in the atmosphere has a half life of seven years.
The abundance of methane in the Earth's atmosphere in 1998 was 1745 parts per billion, up from 700 ppb in 1750. Methane can trap about 20 times the heat of CO2. In the same time period, CO2 increased from 278 to 365 parts per million. The radiative forcing effect due to this increase in methane abundance is about one-third of that of the CO2 increase. In addition, there is a large, but unknown, amount of methane in methane clathrates in the ocean floors. The Earth's crust contains huge amounts of methane. Large amounts of methane are produced anaerobically by methanogenesis. Other sources include mud volcanoes, which are connected with deep geological faults, and livestock (primarily cows) from enteric fermentation.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA