Mother's Anaerobic-powered Automobile

Enlarge Image Image Gallery

Our experiments with methane, here at THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS, have convinced us that over-the-road use of biogas is just about the poorest possible way to burn this fuel. Yet we're currently constructing several prototype "methane bugs" ... ultra-small and ultra-light vehicles designed expressly for operation on our own homemade natural gas.

Why this apparent contradiction? Because we figure we'll be able to lick any methane problem we're likely to encounter if we can find a practical method of powering an automobile with the fuel.

Now there's no question in our minds about the actual operation of an internal combustion engine on "swamp gas". Dad's work with our trusty '48 Chevy powerplant and a few other research projects have proven—to our satisfaction—that homemade methane is a nearly ideal fuel for such beasties: it's easy enough to plumb up, it deposits far less crud in an engine than gasoline and it spews a relatively low amount of pollutants into the air as it burns.

This wonder fuel does have one slight drawback, however: methane is the lightest of the gaseous hydrocarbons and at atmospheric pressure—it takes approximately 135–160 cubic feet of pure methane (or 180–250 cubic feet of bio-gas) to equal one gallon of gasoline. This presents a problem of sheer bulk: unless you want to tow a dirigible around behind you, you're going to find your range severely limited if you try to operate the typical Detroit Juggernaut on homemade natural gas.

There are at least six or seven possible ways around this situation, however, and we're going to try them all: