Question

2. Methane that leaks into the atmosphere is roughly 26 times more potent a greenhouse gas than CO2. If 3% of the methane escapes to the atmosphere rather than being combusted, what is the "effective" kJ per mol of "equivalent" CO2 emitted for methane? "equivalent Co2" means nco2+ 26*nCH4, where nc02 number of moles of CO2, etc

Answer 1

Answer --

Here we first balance the reaction in which Methane undergo conversion to the CO2.

CH₄ + O2-----> CO2+2H2O'

Each mole of CH4 produce one mole of CO2.

Here point to noted that if there is 100 mole of CH4 then 3 mole directly goes to the atmosphere.

Hence total equivalent CO2- 0.97 moles of CO2 per CH4 + 0.03*26 Moles of CH4

= 0.97+0.78

=1.75 equivalent CO2 per CH4.