On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 06:46:52 -0700, Larry Jaques wrote:

On 16 Aug 2012 13:09:19 GMT, Winston wrote:


(...)

http://articles.dailypress.com/2011-...ssage-methane-
gas-20111005_1_methane-gas-landfill-gas-virginia-natural-gas

I got to the 3rd paragraph before it moved me to the home page. It
appears that you have to sign in to stay and read that article.

It doesn't really matter. Point is, methane is released as a waste product
when bacteria digest biological matter. This fuel from our landfills and
sewage treatment plants will float up into the atmosphere anyway. We might
as well convert it to process heat and more benign CO2 on the way.
For virtually free, why not? There are various small - scale point-of-use
digester demo plants dotted about but AFAIK no large-scale conversion
plants in place. That's unfortunate.

Holy Crap!

Something smells funny (no pun intended, much) when they want $45k to
convert a boiler from natgas to methane. Isn't that simply an orifice
change, as they do for propane?

If it is really 'methane' then no change should be necessary.
(Natural gas is mostly methane.)
If it is 'biogas' then the CO2 really should be scrubbed from it to
boost it's energy value before combustion. Else, I imagine a stove
would require about double the flow rate to burn the stuff.

The used appliance store did it for me
for $25 in the old house. I miss that stove. DeVille, with 4 gas
burners (one thermostat controlled), huge chrome griddle in the middle
for pancakes, separate broiler with sliding scissor adjustable height
mechanism. I'm on a nice, sedate glasstop electric now and things are a
bit cleaner but considerably slower.

I *like* my natural gas stove.

--Winston