Methane, CH3, is the chemical name for natural gas. The majority of the world’s supply of methane comes from wells such as found with oil and coal beds. A small supply comes from methane production in landfills, sewage treatment, and methane digesters. As it comes from the ground, natural gas has many impurities including water, other hydrocarbon gases like ethane, and carbon dioxide. Natural gas goes through several processes to separate impurities before it meets standards for sale. Some byproducts include sulfur compounds, propane, butane, and pentane (natural gasoline).

The majority of natural gas delivery is by way of municipal systems. Some of these have become privatised utilities. While some natural gas is transported by pipeline in gaseous form, that which travels over ocean or greater than 4,000 km is first liquified. At the end distribution terminal the liquefied methane is regasified before being pressurized and delivered. Delivery is done through a network of underground pipe.

There are a few localities which have filling stations similar to those for gasoline.
CNG is a cleaner alternative to other automobile fuels such as gasoline (petrol) and diesel. As of 2008 there were 9.6 million natural gas vehicles worldwide... The energy efficiency is generally equal to that of gasoline engines, but lower compared with modern diesel engines. Gasoline/petrol vehicles converted to run on natural gas suffer because of the low compression ratio of their engines, resulting in a cropping of delivered power while running on natural gas (10%–15%). CNG-specific engines, however, use a higher compression ratio due to this fuel's higher octane number of 120–130
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas

Certain privately owned properties have an independent supply. A showcase facility is the Huls Dairy farm.


During a Zpoc we can expect that municipal and utility supply will be interrupted. The systems that deliver these supplies depend on machinery and maintenance. Regardless of whether the Zpoc is resultant from zombie or other disaster, without human work these systems will begin to fail. Without constant resupply, conducted by humans, these systems will at least run out.

Methane need not be disregarded as a fuel source, however. Methane digesters are not difficult to construct. What is required is a feed stock, an inoculant, containment, and pressurization.

Feedstock can be any source of hydrocarbons. Most biomass is usable for feedstock. Green biomass is generally better than woody biomass. The favored biomass is fecal matter. Feces from livestock is most common, but human waste is also used.

The feedstock must be inoculated with bacteria. Inoculants can be had commercially. They are sold for maintaining and revitalizing septic systems. When using fecal matter an inoculant is not required, although many methane digester operators do use one.

Containment consists of the main reactor, a scrubber, and an effluent removal system. In simpler systems there may not be a scrubber. The main reactor may be no more than a 50 gallon drum. The scrubber is a series of chambers in which undesirable pollutants, such as hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, are removed.

The main reactor does not need to be heated, nor does it require stirring. Both are features that improve production. Reactors can be as small as a 5 gallon bucket or as large as a shed. The entire project can be scaled up to industrial production.



Pressurization systems are often floating tanks. This kind of tank has an open bottom that rests in a liquid. The tank fills with methane and rises up from the liquid. Weights are applied to the tank causing the gas to be pressurized. Another kind of pressurization uses a closed tank which is connected to a liquid expansion tank. Liquid, usually water is displaced by the entering methane and flows to the expansion tank. The weight of the liquid maintains the pressure for supply to appliances. The good news is that for most applications only 1/5 PSI (5 inches water column) is the needed pressure.

Effluent removal can be free flow to agriculture. Sometimes the effluent is drained to a basin where it is dried. The cake is then used as fertilizer. Another way to deal with the effluent is to have it run into a reed bed.



by: Zee-Man