More Tinkering

Chapter 3 Biogas

Make and burn methane from garbage and your dog’s droppings.

What I if I told you that you could cook something using your kitchen garbage and your dog’s droppings? It’s true! People all over Asia and Africa are doing it with tanks out behind their houses. You can do it too! Actually, with the rig I’m going to show you, you may not get enough energy to do more than toast a marshmallow, but you will see how it’s done and get a nice warm blue flame, and that’s always interesting. Before we begin, let me point this out that getting energy from garbage makes perfect sense from the perspective of chemistry. Most things that burn ...