The short answer is yes, it's digestible, but the longer answer is that it is not as digestible. It will either take longer, or require more pre-treatment. Both of which might make it less feasible to do. There was quite a bit of discussion about it here a few years ago. Though it was oriented more toward hydrogen production rather than methanol.PeterM wrote:A couple of in principle questions about methane digestion.
Can I use straw as a raw material input?
Can straw be chopped up and added to the input to systems where the predominant input is say cow manure? My idea is to take straw that is left over from cereal harvesting and digest this to produce methane. It may be that the manure provides the bacteriology necessary and the straw the predominant source of cellulose.
I guess the answer is already there if I look at the feed bin in a dairy in the milking shed. I am talking about adding large amounts to the manure but not going through a cow's stomachs first.
Conversion to methanol
Is there a process where methane can be converted to methanol? To me, the chemistry sounds simple, take off a hydrogen atom and put a hydroxyl group in its place. However, I am no chemist and the steps involved may be very convoluted, expensive and therefore prohibitive. The idea is that methanol may be a useful way to convert the methane into a liquid product which may have higher value than the methane. It would extend sideways the possible uses for this energy source, including transportation.
Check out this topic.