Trash to Gas: Biomass Energy Jenny Marie Corra Alpha Secondary Floor Location: M71V

I. Statement of Purpose and Hypothesis
I want to find out which kinds of biomass are better at making biogas.

II. Methodology
After researching the subject of biomass and biogas, I put together all my materials and information. When gathering your materials make sure everything is cleaned and washed. Label all nine soda bottles according to your choice of biomass. Divide and measure all biomass and place into the soda bottles. Cover the mouth of each un-inflated balloon and secure the balloon with a strip of duct tape. Each day measure the circumference of the fullest part of the balloon and record the measurements each day in your notebook. After all your measurements are recorded display your information in a graph.

III. Analysis of Data
Data was collected from a total of nine soda bottles, three labelled: cow manure only (trial 1,2,3), three labelled: cow manure and compost (trial 1,2,3), and three labelled: compost only (trial 1,2,3). The information was summarized into charts for each different variable (different types of biomass). What is biogas- biomass? – Biogas is the name for all organisms on Earth, including their waste. When the biomass rots or breaks down it naturally produces a type of gas called biogas. Biogas contains methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen gases. Biomass is created by anaerobic bacteria that live in environments with no oxygen. This experiment did not support my hypothesis as the cow manure did not produce the most biogas.

IV. Summary and Conclusion
Cow manure and vegetable clippings produce the most gas inflating the balloons to a maximum of 16 cm. Both the cow manure alone and the vegetable peelings alone produce every little gas and only inflated the balloons 7-8 cm. My experiment would have been improved if the conditions were better controlled. I would have done a pH test and adjusted the acidity, as well as the temperature should have remained constant for the entire 2 weeks.

V. Application
There is a limited amount of oil, coal, and natural gas in the world. Some scientists believe we only have 100 years worth of oil and natural gas left, because of these problems we need to become more interested in alternate energy sources such as biomass and biogas.