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An Explosive Breakthrough


Establishment of analysis method for methane detection by gas chromatography

The purpose of this study was to find a good analysis method for methane detection, using GC. Methane’s greenhouse effect is as great as 25 times that of carbon dioxide. The point of this experiment is to establish a method for monitoring amounts of methane.
            The gas chromatograph is used because it has many advantages, including accuracy, visualization, and adaptability. The detector that was used in this experiment was the hydrogen flame ionization detector (FID). The FID detector is most commonly used for carbon-containing organics analysis, and so it was used for this experiment as the substance involved is methane (CH4). The methane detection method by gas chromatography was first used, and then the methane content from biogas that is produced from anaerobic digestion system was measured, in order to verify the previous method. The standard gas used was 44% methane and 56% air in volume. For the establishment of the standard curve, 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 microliters were used each 3 times and then the average peak area was found.
            One of the main problems in this experiment is the margin for error and standard deviations. With higher methane concentration, the standard deviation would increase for method detection. Another flaw was the study of methane content in food waste digestion, but since this did not fit previous results, it was eventually scrapped from the study.
            The point of this experiment was to find an accurate way to detect methane, which can be very harmful to our environment (greenhouse effect). This is very relevant with global warming, as the greenhouse effect continues to rise. The experiment may help with curbing the greenhouse effect.

Comments

  1. MaricarSeptember 6, 2018 at 12:45 PM

    1. Why did the biogas analysis not work and get results that were useable?
    2. Who funded this study? Do they have an action plan based on the results of this study?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2018 at 12:45 PM

    1. Why were the biogas methane levels too high?
    2. If biogas was being tested why were methane levels in the atmosphere relevant?

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2018 at 12:45 PM

    1. Were there any specific locations in the world that this experiment was aimed towards? (any atmospheres higher with methane gas in certain regions vs. others?)

    2. Any reason for the carrier gas being nitrogen?

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2018 at 12:46 PM

    1. Why is nitrogen gas the best carrier gas?
    2. How is there 100% accuracy with the hydrogen flame ionization detector?

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2018 at 12:53 PM

    1. What was the cause of that 50% of data being unusable?

    2. How could the experiment be changed to get reliable data for the other 50% of the biogas samples?

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousSeptember 12, 2018 at 11:42 AM

    1. Why were the biogas methane levels too high?

    The biogas methane levels would have been too high because of methane’s high content within biogas (approximately 50-70%), and the alkane’s unique bacterium called methanogens. This bacterium is a type microorganism that produces methane as a metabolic byproduct in anoxic (extreme hypoxia, total depletion of oxygen) conditions. Methanogens are found in the digestive tracts of animals, and in the study conducted by the University Negeri Surabaya in Surabaya, Indonesia, the use of cow dung as an organic waste provided high levels of methane.

    http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:604559/FULLTEXT02.pdf

    2. If biogas was being tested why were methane levels in the atmosphere relevant?

    Rob Jackson, a scientist at Stanford University conducted a study that measured levels of methane gas within the environment. He said that these levels have spiked since 2007 (the most recent level measure being in 2016 and having results of 1,840 parts per billion) due to methane being a natural gas and thus present in many drilling operations and biological processes. The methane gas leaks from these processes and is expelled into the atmosphere, therefore driving scientists to look to different possibilities for how methane levels could become a controlled variable.

    3. Were there any specific locations in the world that this experiment was aimed towards?

    Agriculture is seen as the number one contributor to rising methane levels in the atmosphere and in biogas. Scientists that have pointed fingers at the agricultural industry are looking specifically at livestock (mostly cattle), rice paddies (flooded land where semiaquatic rice is grown), landfills, marshes/wetlands, and the management of manure.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/11/atmospheric-levels-of-methane-a-powerful-greenhouse-gas-are-spiking-scientists-report/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.2d8d79ed7a3c

    4. Do they have an action plan based on the results of this study?

    A study conducted by M Yantidewi at the University Negeri Surabaya in Surabaya, Indonesia was purposed for developing a method to control the levels of methane within biogas and potentially in the atmosphere. A mixture composition of 1:1 of cow dung and water was placed into a biogas reactor and connected to an airtight container, which allowed for both the methane gas and oxygen gas to leak into a gas reservoir. The scientists used a data acquisition system and gas sensors to retrieve data and process it into a PC, all in real-time. Inside of the gas reservoir was a methane gas sensor that processed methane levels continuously for thirteen days. On the thirteenth day, the PC’s data tables displayed that the oxygen levels were consistent while the methane levels were inconsistent, but it was a promising step towards controlling methane gas production.

    http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/997/1/012018/pdf

    ReplyDelete

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