Backed by Bill Gates, this firm has a unique methane solution

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Florida-based startup M2X Energy has raised more than $20 million from investors, including Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures, to build its gas-to-methanol trailers. The methanol plants on wheels could help reduce methane emissions at remote locations like North Dakota’s Bakken shale play where gas is often produced as a byproduct of oil and a dearth of pipeline space means the fuel isn’t transported to market.

In the US, more than 286.7 billion cubic feet of gas was wasted through flaring or venting in 2021 from upstream oil and gas facilities, although the actual figure is likely far larger because some releases don’t get reported and the total doesn’t include emissions from some key producing states that don’t track the data.

Even so, that’s enough gas to supply roughly 4.9 million US homes for an entire year. Globally, about $15.9 billion worth of gas was wasted through flaring last year, according to the World Bank.

The practice also damages the climate.

“The idea is to tackle the problem of flaring and venting, especially in the oil and gas industry, which is one of the biggest problems as far as carbon emissions and methane emissions are concerned,’’ said Max Pieri, chief executive officer of M2X, which currently has a demonstration unit hooked up to a well in North Dakota.
Methane, which is made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms, is the primary component of natural gas and has a devastating impact on the climate.

The invisible, odourless gas has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during its first 20 years in the atmosphere. Although combusting the gas through a flare significantly reduces the climate impact, the practice isn’t optimal because it wastes fuel that would otherwise