Capturing Methane, Terminating Climate Change

Climate change is often strongly associated with greenhouse gasses, the most famous of which is carbon dioxide, or CO2. Carbon dioxide is villainized so strongly that pursuing zero carbon emission has now become somehow generic. However, not many among the general public are aware of the contribution of methane (CH4) in the current climate crisis. While methane is the “[second] most significant greenhouse gas, at 11 percent of emissions in the United States,” it is “more than 80 times as efficient at trapping heat as carbon dioxide is”. In other words, a cubic decimeter of methane traps as much as 80 cubic decimeters of carbon dioxide. Only to make matters worse, methane density in the atmosphere has increased by nearly three times only in this century.

One might absurdly wonder, ‘If only we could capture methane from the atmosphere….’ Unfortunately, methane separation is yet to be fully explored due to various difficulties in development and research. Because methane is far less abundant in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide, yet far more effective in contributing to global warming, it is inefficient to process “200 million tetragrams of air to remove one tetragram of methane.” Furthermore, it is more resistant to capturing and artificial phase changes than carbon dioxide due to its chemical structure. Thus, the more effective way of reducing methane’s contribution is oxidizing it using porous minerals such as zeolites that trap methane in their microscopic pores and release it as carbon dioxide–a more manageable greenhouse gas–as MIT professor Plata states.

The next step towards making methane more manageable is to locate the target areas. According to research led by climate scientist Lauvaus of the University of Paris-Saclay, based from analyses of satellite images, “a majority of the 1,800 biggest methane sources in the study come from six major oil- and gas-producing countries,” the two industries that “contribute as much as 12 percent of methane emissions” (Gramling “Satellites”), in addition to landfills and agriculture. These “ultra-emitters” emit a startling 25 or more metric tons of methane per hour into Earth’s atmosphere. Focusing on the “ultra-emitters” can make methane oxidizing or capturing much more efficient. In further data analysis of methane ultra-emitters, big data and airborne remote sensing technology could be put to use. For example, researchers in California found large sources of methane, such as large landfills, leaking pipelines, or malfunctioning gas-capture systems, using airborne imaging spectrometers to scan methane plumes (Gramling “California”). When such combined technology is applied to larger areas worldwide, more areas releasing methane will be found. Eventually, this will enable the creation of a global database of methane ultra-emitters, which will then be key targets of methane capturing, oxidizing, and reducing technology.

Methane is the little giant when it comes to climate change; while it takes up a small portion of the atmosphere, it can have unfathomable effects on climate change. Detecting and capturing methane may be the next answer to slowing down global warming and ending the climate crisis.