Methane oxygen reaction
Methane oxygen reaction
(OP)
hi,
I am in a process of justifying purging operation for one of our anaerobic digester. What are the chances of methane to react with oxygen to produce co2 and water?? one of my collegue thinks that methane being produced will react with oxygen to product carbon dioxide and water, so the oxygen may be consumed before enough biogas is present to form an explosive mixture inside the digester during startup/shutdown. Can this reaction occur without reaching the minimum activation energy???
I am in a process of justifying purging operation for one of our anaerobic digester. What are the chances of methane to react with oxygen to produce co2 and water?? one of my collegue thinks that methane being produced will react with oxygen to product carbon dioxide and water, so the oxygen may be consumed before enough biogas is present to form an explosive mixture inside the digester during startup/shutdown. Can this reaction occur without reaching the minimum activation energy???





RE: Methane oxygen reaction
To combine the two you will have to have the minimum activation energy available unless you have a catalyst where it will take less energy.
RE: Methane oxygen reaction
Methane and oxygen will be happy to co-exist, even at concentrations corresponding to an explosive mixture, for a very long time without any significant quantity of methane being converted to CO2. Though the reaction is thermodynamically spontaneous, it is kinetically limited due to its activation energy. You need not only to reach the activation energy to initiate the reaction, you also need enough of each reagent present to keep the reaction going once it's been initiated or else it will self-extinguish. There's a range of mixtures, both lean and rich in fuel, which satisfy this condition and constitute "explosive mixtures".
Now that you understand the chemistry involved, perhaps you can understand whether or not the need to purge the digestor. We can't assess that for you without knowing the physical set-up so we can understand the risk of initiation and the range of concentrations that might exist in there etc.
RE: Methane oxygen reaction
There are a few units in operation and at least one is at a biogas/land fill site.
RE: Methane oxygen reaction