Methane Rich Gas

Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes it an economically attractive fuel, although capturing and storing it is difficult because it is a gas at standard temperature and pressure. In the Earth's atmosphere methane is transparent to visible light but absorbs infrared radiation, acting as a greenhouse gas. Methane is an organic compound, and among the simplest of organic compounds. Methane is also a hydrocarbon.

Naturally occurring methane is found both below ground and under the seafloor and is formed by both geological and biological processes. The largest reservoir of methane is under the seafloor in the form of methane clathrates. When methane reaches the surface and the atmosphere, it is known as atmospheric methane.

The Earth's atmospheric methane concentration has increased by about 160% since 1750, with the overwhelming percentage caused by human activity. It accounted for 20% of the total radiative forcing from all of the long-lived and globally mixed greenhouse gases, according to the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. Strong, rapid and sustained reductions in methane emissions could limit near-term warming and improve air quality by reducing global surface ozone.

Methane has also been detected on other planets, including Mars, which has implications for astrobiology research.

Properties and bonding

Methane is a tetrahedral molecule with four equivalent C–H bonds. Its electronic structure is described by four bonding molecular orbitals (MOs) resulting from the overlap of the valence orbitals on C and H. The lowest-energy MO is the result of the overlap of the 2s orbital on carbon with the in-phase combination of the 1s orbitals on the four hydrogen atoms. Above this energy level is a triply degenerate set of MOs that involve overlap of the 2p orbitals on carbon with various linear combinations of the 1s orbitals on hydrogen. The resulting "three-over-one" bonding scheme is consistent with photoelectron spectroscopic measurements.

Methane is an odorless, colourless and transparent gas at standard temperature and pressure. It does absorb visible light, especially at the red end of the spectrum, due to overtone bands, but the effect is only noticeable if the light path is very long. This is what gives Uranus and Neptune their blue or bluish-green colors, as light passes through their atmospheres containing methane and is then scattered back out.

The familiar smell of natural gas as used in homes is achieved by the addition of an odorant, usually blends containing ''tert''-butylthiol, as a safety measure. Methane has a boiling point of −161.5 °C at a pressure of one atmosphere. As a gas, it is flammable over a range of concentrations (5.4%–17%) in air at standard pressure.

Solid methane exists in several modifications, of which nine are known. Cooling methane at normal pressure results in the formation of methane I. This substance crystallizes in the cubic system (space group Fmm). The positions of the hydrogen atoms are not fixed in methane I, i.e. methane molecules may rotate freely. Therefore, it is a plastic crystal.

Chemical reactions

The primary chemical reactions of methane are combustion, steam reforming to syngas, and halogenation. In general, methane reactions are difficult to control.

Selective oxidation

Partial oxidation of methane to methanol ( C H₃ O H), a more convenient, liquid fuel, is challenging because the reaction typically progresses all the way to carbon dioxide and water even with an insufficient supply of oxygen. The enzyme methane monooxygenase produces methanol from methane, but cannot be used for industrial-scale reactions. Some homogeneously catalyzed systems and heterogeneous systems have been developed, but all have significant drawbacks. These generally operate by generating protected products which are shielded from overoxidation. Examples include the Catalytica system, copper zeolites, and iron zeolites stabilizing the alpha-oxygen active site.

One group of bacteria catalyze methane oxidation with nitrite as the oxidant in the absence of oxygen, giving rise to the so-called anaerobic oxidation of methane.

Acid–base reactions

Like other hydrocarbons, methane is an extremely weak acid. Its p''K''_a in DMSO is estimated to be 56. It cannot be deprotonated in solution, but the conjugate base is known in forms such as methyllithium.

A variety of cation, positive ions derived from methane have been observed, mostly as unstable species in low-pressure gas mixtures. These include methenium or methyl cation , methane cation , and methanium or protonated methane . Some of these have been list of interstellar and circumstellar molecules, detected in outer space. Methanium can also be produced as diluted solutions from methane with superacids. Cations with higher charge, such as and , have been studied theoretically and conjectured to be stable.

Despite the Bond strength, strength of its C–H bonds, there is intense interest in catalysts that facilitate C–H bond activation in methane (and other lower numbered alkanes).

Combustion

Methane's heat of combustion is 55.5 MJ/kg. Combustion of methane is a multiple step reaction summarized as follows:
:
:Δ''H'' = −802 kilojoule, kJ/mole (unit), mol, at standard conditions (for water vapor, Δ''H'' = −891 kilojoule, kJ/mole (unit), mol for liquid water)
Peters four-step chemistry is a systematically reduced four-step chemistry that explains the burning of methane.

Methane radical reactions

Given appropriate conditions, methane reacts with halogen Radical (chemistry), radicals as follows:
:
:

where X is a halogen: fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), or iodine (I). This mechanism for this process is called free radical halogenation. It is initiated when UV light or some other radical initiator (like peroxides) produces a halogen atom. A two-step chain reaction ensues in which the halogen atom abstracts a hydrogen atom from a methane molecule, resulting in the formation of a hydrogen halide molecule and a methyl radical (). The methyl radical then reacts with a molecule of the halogen to form a molecule of the halomethane, with a new halogen atom as byproduct. Similar reactions can occur on the halogenated product, leading to replacement of additional hydrogen atoms by halogen atoms with dihalomethane, trihalomethane, and ultimately, tetrahalomethane structures, depending upon reaction conditions and the halogen-to-methane ratio.

This reaction is commonly used with chlorine to produce dichloromethane and chloroform via chloromethane. Carbon tetrachloride can be made with excess chlorine.

Uses

Methane may be transported as a refrigerated liquid (liquefied natural gas, or LNG). While leaks from a refrigerated liquid container are initially heavier than air due to the increased density of the cold gas, the gas at ambient temperature is lighter than air. Pipeline transport, Gas pipelines distribute large amounts of natural gas, of which methane is the principal component.

Fuel

Methane is used as a fuel for ovens, homes, water heaters, kilns, automobiles, turbines, etc.

As the major constituent of natural gas, methane is important for electricity generation by burning it as a fuel in a gas turbine or Boiler (power generation), steam generator. Compared to other fossil fuel, hydrocarbon fuels, methane produces less carbon dioxide for each unit of heat released. At about 891 kJ/mol, methane's heat of combustion is lower than that of any other hydrocarbon, but the ratio of the heat of combustion (891 kJ/mol) to the molecular mass (16.0 g/mol, of which 12.0 g/mol is carbon) shows that methane, being the simplest hydrocarbon, produces more heat per mass unit (55.7 kJ/g) than other complex hydrocarbons. In many areas with a dense enough population, methane is piped into homes and businesses for heating, cooking, and industrial uses. In this context it is usually known as natural gas, which is considered to have an energy content of 39 megajoules per cubic meter, or 1,000 British thermal unit, BTU per standard cubic foot. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is predominantly methane () converted into liquid form for ease of storage or transport.

Rocket propellant

Refined liquid methane as well as LNG is Liquid rocket propellants#Bipropellants, used as a rocket fuel,
when combined with liquid oxygen, as in the TQ-12, BE-4, Raptor (rocket engine family), Raptor, YF-215, and Relativity Space#Rocket engines, Aeon engines. Due to the similarities between methane and LNG such engines are commonly grouped together under the term ''methalox''.

As a liquid rocket propellant, a methane/liquid oxygen combination offers the advantage over kerosene/liquid oxygen combination, or kerolox, of producing small exhaust molecules, reducing coking or deposition of soot on engine components. Methane is easier to store than hydrogen due to its higher boiling point and density, as well as its lack of hydrogen embrittlement. The lower molecular weight of the exhaust also increases the fraction of the heat energy which is in the form of kinetic energy available for propulsion, increasing the specific impulse of the rocket. Compared to liquid hydrogen, the specific energy of methane is lower but this disadvantage is offset by methane's greater density and temperature range, allowing for smaller and lighter tankage for a given fuel mass. Liquid methane has a temperature range (91–112 K) nearly compatible with liquid oxygen (54–90 K). The fuel currently sees use in operational launch vehicles such as Zhuque-2, Vulcan Centaur, Vulcan and New Glenn as well as in-development launchers such as SpaceX Starship, Starship, Rocket Lab Neutron, Neutron, Terran R, Stoke Space Nova, Nova, and Long March 9.

Chemical feedstock

Natural gas, which is mostly composed of methane, is used to produce hydrogen gas on an industrial scale. Steam reforming, Steam methane reforming (SMR), or simply known as steam reforming, is the standard industrial method of producing commercial bulk hydrogen gas. More than 50 million metric tons are produced annually worldwide (2013), principally from the SMR of natural gas. Much of this hydrogen is used in petroleum Refinery, refineries, in the production of chemicals and in food processing. Very large quantities of hydrogen are used in the Ammonia production, industrial synthesis of ammonia.

At high temperatures (700–1100 °C) and in the presence of a metal-based catalyst (nickel), steam reacts with methane to yield a mixture of Carbon monoxide, CO and Dihydrogen, , known as "water gas" or "syngas":

:

This reaction is strongly endothermic (consumes heat, 206 kJ/mol).
Additional hydrogen is obtained by the reaction of carbon monoxide, CO with water via the water-gas shift reaction:

:

This reaction is mildly exothermic (produces heat, −41 kJ/mol).

Methane is also subjected to free-radical chlorination reaction, chlorination in the production of chloromethanes, although methanol is a more typical precursor.Rossberg, M. ''et al.'' (2006) "Chlorinated Hydrocarbons" in ''Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry'', Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. .

Hydrogen can also be produced via the direct decomposition of methane, also known as methane pyrolysis, which, unlike steam reforming, produces no greenhouse gases (GHG). The heat needed for the reaction can also be GHG emission free, e.g. from concentrated sunlight, renewable electricity, or burning some of the produced hydrogen. If the methane is from biogas then the process can be a carbon sink. Temperatures in excess of 1200 °C are required to break the bonds of methane to produce hydrogen gas and solid carbon.

However, through the use of a suitable catalyst the reaction temperature can be reduced to between 550 and 900 °C depending on the chosen catalyst. Dozens of catalysts have been tested, including unsupported and supported metal catalysts, carbonaceous and metal-carbon catalysts.

The reaction is moderately endothermic as shown in the reaction equation below.

:
:( 74.8 Joule per mole, kJ/mol)

Refrigerant

As a refrigerant, methane has the ASHRAE designation List of refrigerants#:~:text=R-50, R-50.

Generation

Methane can be generated through geological, biological or industrial routes.

Geological routes

The two main routes for geological methane generation are (i) organic (thermally generated, or thermogenic) and (ii) inorganic (Abiotic component, abiotic). Thermogenic methane occurs due to the breakup of organic matter at elevated temperatures and pressures in deep sedimentary Stratum, strata. Most methane in sedimentary basins is thermogenic; therefore, thermogenic methane is the most important source of natural gas. Thermogenic methane components are typically considered to be relic (from an earlier time). Generally, formation of thermogenic methane (at depth) can occur through organic matter breakup, or organic synthesis. Both ways can involve microorganisms (methanogenesis), but may also occur inorganically. The processes involved can also consume methane, with and without microorganisms.

The more important source of methane at depth (crystalline bedrock) is abiotic. Abiotic means that methane is created from inorganic compounds, without biological activity, either through magmatic processes or via water-rock reactions that occur at low temperatures and pressures, like Serpentinite, serpentinization.

Biological routes

Most of Earth's methane is Biogenic substance, biogenic and is produced by methanogenesis,Lessner, Daniel J. (Dec 2009) Methanogenesis Biochemistry. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net a form of anaerobic respiration only known to be conducted by some members of the domain Archaea. Methanogens occur in landfills and Soil gas, soils, ruminants (for example, cattle), the guts of termites, and the Anoxic waters, anoxic sediments below the seafloor and the bottom of lakes.

This multistep process is used by these microorganisms for energy. The net reaction of methanogenesis is:

:

The final step in the process is catalyzed by the enzyme Coenzyme-B sulfoethylthiotransferase, methyl coenzyme M reductase (MCR).

Wetlands

Wetlands are the largest natural sources of methane to the atmosphere, accounting for approximately 20 – 30% of atmospheric methane. Climate change is increasing the amount of methane released from wetlands due to increased temperatures and altered rainfall patterns. This phenomenon is called ''wetland methane feedback''.

Rice cultivation generates as much as 12% of total global methane emissions due to the long-term flooding of rice fields.

Ruminants

Ruminants such as cattle belch out methane, accounting for about 22% of the U.S. annual methane emissions to the atmosphere. One study reported that the livestock sector in general (primarily cattle, chickens, and pigs) produces 37% of all human-induced methane. A 2013 study estimated that livestock accounted for 44% of human-induced methane and about 15% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Many efforts are underway to reduce livestock methane production, such as medical treatments and dietary adjustments, and to trap the gas to use its combustion energy.

Seafloor sediments

Most of the subseafloor is Anoxic waters, anoxic because oxygen is removed by Aerobic respiration, aerobic microorganisms within the first few centimeters of the seafloor sediment, sediment. Below the oxygen-replete seafloor, methanogens produce methane that is either used by other organisms or becomes trapped in Clathrate hydrate, gas hydrates. These other organisms that utilize methane for energy are known as methanotrophs ('methane-eating'), and are the main reason why little methane generated at depth reaches the sea surface. Consortia of Archaea and Bacteria have been found to oxidize methane via anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM); the organisms responsible for this are anaerobic methanotrophic Archaea (ANME) and Sulfate-reducing microorganism, sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB).

Industrial routes

Given its cheap abundance in natural gas, there is little incentive to produce methane industrially. Methane can be produced by hydrogenation, hydrogenating carbon dioxide through the Sabatier process. Methane is also a side product of the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide in the Fischer–Tropsch process, which is practiced on a large scale to produce longer-chain molecules than methane.

An example of large-scale coal-to-methane gasification is the Great Plains Synfuels plant, started in 1984 in Beulah, North Dakota as a way to develop abundant local resources of low-grade lignite, a resource that is otherwise difficult to transport for its weight, Coal assay#Ash, ash content, low calorific value and propensity to spontaneous combustion during storage and transport. A number of similar plants exist around the world, although mostly these plants are targeted towards the production of long chain alkanes for use as gasoline, Diesel fuel, diesel, or feedstock to other processes.

Power to gas#Power to methane, Power to methane is a technology that uses electricity, electrical power to produce hydrogen from water by electrolysis and uses the Sabatier reaction to combine hydrogen with carbon dioxide to produce methane.

Laboratory synthesis

Methane can be produced by protonation of methyl lithium or a methyl Grignard reagent such as methylmagnesium chloride. It can also be made from anhydrous sodium acetate and dry sodium hydroxide, mixed and heated above 300 °C (with sodium carbonate as byproduct). In practice, a requirement for pure methane can easily be fulfilled by steel gas bottle from standard gas suppliers.

Occurrence

Methane is the major component of natural gas, about 87% by volume. The major source of methane is extraction from geological deposits known as natural gas fields, with coal seam gas extraction becoming a major source (see coal bed methane extraction, a method for extracting methane from a coal deposit, while enhanced coal bed methane recovery is a method of recovering methane from non-mineable coal seams). It is associated with other hydrocarbon fuels, and sometimes accompanied by helium and nitrogen. Methane is produced at shallow levels (low pressure) by anaerobic organism, anaerobic Decomposition, decay of organic matter and reworked methane from deep under the Earth's surface. In general, the sediments that generate natural gas are buried deeper and at higher temperatures than those that contain Petroleum, oil.

Methane is generally transported in bulk by Pipeline transport, pipeline in its natural gas form, or by LNG carriers in its liquefied form; few countries transport it by truck.

Atmospheric methane and climate change

Methane is an important greenhouse gas, responsible for around 30% of the rise in global temperatures since the industrial revolution.

Methane has a global warming potential (GWP) of 29.8 ± 11 compared to (potential of 1) over a 100-year period, and 82.5 ± 25.8 over a 20-year period. This means that, for example, a Fugitive gas emissions, leak of one tonne of methane is equivalent to emitting 82.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Burning methane and producing carbon dioxide also reduces the greenhouse gas impact compared to simply venting methane to the atmosphere.

As methane is gradually converted into carbon dioxide (and water) in the atmosphere, these values include the climate forcing from the carbon dioxide produced from methane over these timescales.

Annual global methane emissions are currently approximately 580 Mt, 40% of which is from natural sources and the remaining 60% originating from human activity, known as anthropogenic emissions. The largest anthropogenic source is agriculture, responsible for around one quarter of emissions, closely followed by the Energy industry, energy sector, which includes emissions from coal, oil, natural gas and biofuels.

Keeling Curve, Historic methane concentrations in the world's atmosphere have ranged between 300 and 400 nmol/mol during glacial periods commonly known as ice ages, and between 600 and 700 nmol/mol during the warm interglacial periods. A 2012 NASA website said the oceans were a potential important source of Arctic methane, but more recent studies associate increasing methane levels as caused by human activity.

Global monitoring of atmospheric methane concentrations began in the 1980s. The Earth's atmospheric methane concentration has increased 160% since preindustrial levels in the mid-18th century. In 2013, atmospheric methane accounted for 20% of the total radiative forcing from all of the long-lived and globally mixed greenhouse gases. Between 2011 and 2019 the annual average increase of methane in the atmosphere was 1866 ppb. From 2015 to 2019 sharp rises in levels of atmospheric methane were recorded.

In 2019, the atmospheric methane concentration was higher than at any time in the last 800,000 years. As stated in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, AR6 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, "Since 1750, increases in (47%) and (156%) concentrations far exceed, and increases in (23%) are similar to, the natural multi-millennial changes between glacial and interglacial periods over at least the past 800,000 years (very high confidence)".

In February 2020, it was reported that fugitive emissions and gas venting from the fossil fuel industry may have been significantly underestimated.
The largest annual increase occurred in 2021 with the overwhelming percentage caused by human activity.

Climate change can increase atmospheric methane levels by increasing methane production in natural ecosystems, forming a climate change feedback. Another explanation for the rise in methane emissions could be a slowdown of the chemical reaction that removes methane from the atmosphere.

Over 100 countries have signed th
Global Methane Pledge
launched in 2021, promising to cut their methane emissions by 30% by 2030. This could avoid 0.2 °C of warming globally by 2050, although there have been calls for higher commitments in order to reach this target. The International Energy Agency's 2022 report states "the most cost-effective opportunities for methane abatement are in the energy sector, especially in oil and gas operations".

Clathrates

Methane clathrates (also known as methane hydrates) are solid cages of water molecules that trap single molecules of methane. Significant reservoirs of methane clathrates have been found in arctic permafrost and along continental margins beneath the Seabed, ocean floor within the Gas hydrate stability zone, gas clathrate stability zone, located at high pressures (1 to 100 MPa; lower end requires lower temperature) and low temperatures (< 15 °C; upper end requires higher pressure). Methane clathrates can form from biogenic methane, thermogenic methane, or a mix of the two. These deposits are both a potential source of methane fuel as well as a potential contributor to global warming.Miller, G. Tyler (2007). ''Sustaining the Earth: An Integrated Approach''. U.S.: Thomson Advantage Books, p. 160. The global mass of carbon stored in gas clathrates is still uncertain and has been estimated as high as 12,500 Gigaton, Gt carbon and as low as 500 Gt carbon. The estimate has declined over time with a most recent estimate of ≈1800 Gt carbon. A large part of this uncertainty is due to our knowledge gap in sources and sinks of methane and the distribution of methane clathrates at the global scale. For example, a source of methane was discovered relatively recently in an Mid-ocean ridge, ultraslow spreading ridge in the Arctic. Some climate models suggest that today's methane emission regime from the ocean floor is potentially similar to that during the period of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) around 55.5 million years ago, although there are no data indicating that methane from clathrate dissociation currently reaches the atmosphere. Arctic methane release from permafrost and seafloor methane clathrates is a potential consequence and further cause of global warming; this is known as the clathrate gun hypothesis. Data from 2016 indicate that Arctic permafrost thaws faster than predicted.

Public safety and the environment

Methane "degrades air quality and adversely impacts human health, agricultural yields, and ecosystem productivity".

Methane is extremely flammable and may form explosive mixtures with air. Methane gas explosions are responsible for many deadly mining disasters. A methane gas explosion was the cause of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster in West Virginia on April 5, 2010, killing 29. Natural gas accidental release has also been a major focus in the field of safety engineering, due to past accidental releases that concluded in the formation of jet fire disasters.

The 2015–2016 Aliso Canyon gas leak, methane gas leak in Aliso Canyon, California was considered to be the worst in terms of its environmental effect in American history. It was also described as more damaging to the environment than Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Deepwater Horizon's leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

In May 2023 ''The Guardian'' published a report blaming Turkmenistan as the worst in the world for methane ''super emitting''. The data collected by Kayrros researchers indicate that two large Turkmen fossil fuel fields Methane leak, leaked 2.6 million and 1.8 million metric tonnes of methane in 2022 alone, pumping the Carbon dioxide, equivalent of 366 million tonnes into the atmosphere, surpassing the annual emissions of the United Kingdom.

Methane is also an asphyxiant gas, asphyxiant if the oxygen concentration is reduced to below about 16% by displacement, as most people can Cabin pressurization#Need for cabin pressurization, tolerate a reduction from 21% to 16% without ill effects. The concentration of methane at which asphyxiation risk becomes significant is much higher than the 5–15% concentration in a flammable or explosive mixture. Methane off-gas can penetrate the interiors of buildings near landfills and expose occupants to significant levels of methane. Some buildings have specially engineered recovery systems below their basements to actively capture this gas and vent it away from the building.

Extraterrestrial methane

Interstellar medium

Methane is abundant in many parts of the Solar System and potentially could be harvested on the surface of another Solar System body (in particular, using In situ resource utilization, methane production from local materials found on Mars or Titan (moon), Titan), providing fuel for a return journey.

Negative methane, the Ion, negative ion of methane, is also known to exist in interstellar space. Its mechanism of formation is not fully understood.

Mars

Methane has been detected on all planets of the Solar System and most of the larger moons. With the possible exception of Life on Mars, Mars, it is believed to have come from Abiogenic petroleum origin, abiotic processes.

The Curiosity (rover), ''Curiosity'' rover has documented seasonal fluctuations of Atmosphere of Mars, atmospheric methane levels on Mars. These fluctuations peaked at the end of the Martian summer at 0.6 parts per billion.

Methane has been proposed as a possible rocket propellant on future Human mission to Mars, Mars missions due in part to the possibility of synthesizing it on the planet by In situ resource utilization#Mars, in situ resource utilization. An adaptation of the Sabatier reaction, Sabatier methanation reaction may be used with a mixed catalyst bed and a Water-gas shift reaction#Reverse water-gas shift, reverse water-gas shift in a single reactor to produce methane and oxygen from the raw materials available on Mars, utilizing water from the Martian soil, Martian subsoil and carbon dioxide in the Atmosphere of Mars, Martian atmosphere.

Methane could be produced by a non-biological process called serpentinite, serpentinization involving water, carbon dioxide, and the mineral olivine, which is known to be common on Mars.

Titan

Methane has been detected in vast abundance on Titan (moon), Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. It comprises a significant portion of Atmosphere of Titan, its atmosphere and also exists in a liquid form on its surface, where it comprises the majority of the liquid in Titan's Lakes of Titan, vast lakes of hydrocarbons, the Ligeia Mare, second largest of which is believed to be almost pure methane in composition.

The presence of stable lakes of liquid methane on Titan, as well as the surface of Titan being highly chemically active and rich in organic compounds, has led scientists to consider the Life on Titan#Hydrocarbons as solvents, possibility of life existing within Titan's lakes, using methane as a solvent in the place of water for Earth-based life and using hydrogen in the atmosphere to derive energy with acetylene.

History

The discovery of methane is credited to Italian people, Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, who characterized numerous properties including its flammability limit and origin from decaying organic matter.Volta, Alessandro (1777
''Lettere del Signor Don Alessandro Volta ... Sull' Aria Inflammable Nativa Delle Paludi''
[Letters of Signor Don Alessandro Volta ... on the flammable native air of the marshes], Milan, Italy: Giuseppe Marelli.

Volta was initially motivated by reports of inflammable air present in marshes by his friend Father Carlo Guiseppe Campi. While on a fishing trip to Lake Maggiore straddling Italy and Switzerland in November 1776, he noticed the presence of bubbles in the nearby marshes and decided to investigate. Volta collected the gas rising from the marsh and demonstrated that the gas was inflammable.

Volta notes similar observations of inflammable air were present previously in scientific literature, including a letter written by Benjamin Franklin.

Following the Felling mine disasters#1812 disaster, Felling mine disaster of 1812 in which 92 men perished, Sir Humphry Davy established that the feared firedamp was in fact largely methane.

The name "methane" was coined in 1866 by the German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann. The name was derived from Methanol#History, methanol.

Etymology

Etymologically, the word ''methane'' is coined from the chemical suffix "''-ane''", which denotes substances belonging to the alkane family; and the word ''methyl'', which is derived from the German (1840) or directly from the French , which is a back-formation from the French (corresponding to English "methylene"), the root of which was coined by Jean-Baptiste Dumas and Eugène Péligot in 1834 from the Greek (wine) (related to English "mead") and (meaning "wood"). The radical is named after this because it was first detected in methanol, an alcohol first isolated by distillation of wood. The chemical suffix ''-ane'' is from the coordinating chemical suffix ''-ine'' which is from Latin feminine suffix ''-ina'' which is applied to represent abstracts. The coordination of "-ane", "-ene", "-one", etc. was proposed in 1866 by German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann.

Abbreviations

The abbreviation -C can mean the mass of carbon contained in a mass of methane, and the mass of methane is always 1.33 times the mass of -C. -C can also mean the methane-carbon ratio, which is 1.33 by mass. Methane at scales of the atmosphere is commonly measured in teragrams (Tg ) or millions of metric tons (MMT ), which mean the same thing. Other standard units are also used, such as nanomole (nmol, one billionth of a mole), Mole (unit), mole (mol), kilogram, and gram.

See also

Explanatory notes

Citations

Cited sources

*

External links

Methane
at ''The Periodic Table of Videos'' (University of Nottingham)

International Chemical Safety Card 0291


– United States Geological Survey (archived 6 February 2004)
*

CDC – Handbook for Methane Control in Mining
(PDF)

{{Authority control

Methane,
Anaerobic digestion
Fuel gas
Fuels
Gaseous signaling molecules
Greenhouse gases
Industrial gases
Organic compounds with 1 carbon atom