Here is a basic explanation of how they collect methane gas from manure. On dairy farms they collect and move the manure to a large lagoon. Most of the methanogenic bacteria are present in the manure. However, they can add more of these bacteria to speed up the anaerobic digestion of organic waste. For the anerobic process to occur, they must cover the lagoon with a nonporous cover. Then the biologic breakdown occurs in what is referred to as a methane digester. This captured methane gas is purified and is equivalent to natural gas which can be used to fire up electrical generators and produce all the electricity neeeded for the dairy farm. Any excess electricity is sold to the local power company. One dairy in California is actually piping excess gas to a local power company.
In the thriller novel, Green Power (story takes place in California), these methane digesters are exactly what the protagonist uses to help dairy farmers. However, when an epidemic breaks out pointing to the methane digesters as the cause, the safety of this alternate source of energy is questioned.
Synopis for Green Power:
After the closing of Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant, Dirk Hendrickson loses his job as head of security. He blames Dr. Ray Pendleton who had led a demonstration against the nuclear power plant. When Ray sets up methane digesters on Lodi dairies, Dirk and his fellow Delta Valley militiamen do everything in their power to destroy the professor's projects. When a deadly epidemic breaks out, Dr. Pendleton's alternate energy source is implicated as the cause.
Linda McCord, a lab tech at the hospital where the infected patients are admitted, works with the professor to help prove that his project is not the cause of the epidemic. The CDC gets involved and calls in the FBI to investigate a possible act of bioterrorism. The novel takes a dramatic turn when Ray comes down with a disease caused by the same species of methanogenic bacterium involved in his project.
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