methane

I went to the Cockburn City landfill site today and took some pics of the new methane collection set-up being constructed. I am not sure how they will extract the gas or what it will be used for,but it is a huge area covered with heavy plastic with piping to collect the gas. It's hard to imagine how much gas can be produced by mattresses and such, but it is being done successfully at other landfill sites around Perth.

In the 1970s at a Vocational Centre near Port Moresby in Papua, I saw a methane producer working well and producing methane which was used to fuel the cook-house. The producer was a circular pig pen of about 15 metres diameter with a central circular pit into which the pig wastes were washed daily. The fermentation of the wastes and water gave off methane and that was trapped under a snug-fitting inverted cupola. A hose from on top of the cupola allowed the gas to be taken to the kitchen stoves. The pressure was regulated by weights around the edge of the cupola. I may try and sketch the system and post it at a later date.