Biomass to Gas Nicholas Maryn St John's School Floor Location: J16V

My project was about biomass and how it could be an effective and reliable source of energy. I picked this project because I thought biomass would be a sustainable renewable source of energy. My project is important because it can have an important affect on the world right now. When oil is gone we are going to have to find a source of energy. Biomass is a good source of energy. It is renewable, it has a high net energy gain, and it is very environmentally friendly.

My science experiment tried to determine which biomass mixture produced the most methane. The experiment used the following combinations: cow manure, cow manure and mashed banana and cow manure and vegetable peelings. I needed to get a lot of materials like nine 2 litre pop-bottles, 1 cup of cow manure and duct tape. I put the combination of cow manure, cow manure with mashed banana or cow manure and vegetable peelings into a 2 litre bottle. I then put the latex balloon over the mouth of the bottle and duct taped it. Then I did this to 2 other bottles that have the same mixture. Then I did this with the other 6 different combinations.

The results of my experiment were interesting, but not as dramatic as I had hoped. In the end I found out that mashed banana and cow manure were the best combination of organic material. The thing that disappointed me was that due to the cold weather the bottles could not produce heat thus making it harder for the microbes to break down the substances and make methane. Also one of my bottles failed to work. If the weather had been warmer I am sure that there would have been more methane produced.

My experiment can help the world with the oil crisis. Biomass is a new, effective renewable source of energy and I think it can help the world with economic and environmental problems.