Example
Collected landfill gas may be treated, combusted or used under appropriate operating conditions.
The catch
Collection alone is insufficient if gas later leaks or is released untreated.
Related terms
Landfill gas, Methane, Anthropogenic methane, Biogenic methane, Flaring, Fossil methane
In more depth
Methane capture, explained.
Methane capture happens wherever methane-rich gas collects somewhere it can be piped. Landfills and coal mines are the classic cases, and covered manure lagoons, digesters and vapour recovery units on oil storage tanks capture gas too. Coal mines also release dilute methane in ventilation air, which needs special oxidisers because it is too weak to burn in an ordinary flare.
The term is sometimes confused with carbon capture and storage, which deals with CO₂ and stores it underground. Capture figures on their own say little about climate benefit. The quantity the atmosphere notices is captured methane multiplied by destruction efficiency, with any slip and downtime subtracted.