NOVELTY - Enhancing methane production from organic material, involves establishing baseline conditions of the organic material, including establishing baseline concentrations of at least four light metal cations in the organic material; adjusting pH and alkalinity of the organic material; and adjusting proportions of the light metal cations in the organic material.    USE - For enhancing methane production from organic material (claimed) useful in applications such as biological processes used to produce methane from waste material e.g. plant and animal waste; in aerobic as well as to anaerobic streams of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), waste streams of commercial WWTPs (e.g., waste streams from meat factories, fish culture ponds, animal farms, food processing facilities), coal beds, and buried garbage sites; in anaerobic waste streams at WWTPs having anaerobic digesters, e.g, single phase digesters, multiple phase digesters, and septic tanks.    ADVANTAGE - The method increases methane production. Increasing methane production result in increased fuel to power the treatment process as well as excess fuel that can be supplied to a local energy company for distribution to local residents and businesses; reduces the amount of organic pollutants in the effluent waste stream (i.e., lower chemical oxygen demand) and consequently increases the water quality of effluent receiving waters (e.g., streams, rivers, lakes); and results in a solid waste from which the methane was produced having a large quantity of methanogens, which is useful as nutritious compost for farmland after the material is heat treated. Increasing methane production help to lessen a locality's reliance on fossil fuels, and therefore help in improving air quality. All methane produced as a biogas and used as an energy source eliminates the need to produce and transport an equivalent amount of mineral natural gas. Where waste is not converted to methane, the waste is discharged in the form of organic matter which is ultimately oxidized to produce carbon dioxide in the environment. Efficient methane production from waste, therefore, means that a given amount of energy is produced with half as much energy source consumed and half as much carbon dioxide produced. Increased methane production is that most of the carbon in the waste stream is converted to a useful gas with minimal production of anaerobic microorganisms that must be disposed of as biological waste. By contrast, in the more modern aerobic treatment plants, most of the waste stream is converted to carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, with the production of a much larger amount of aerobic microorganisms that must be disposed of as biological waste.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Enhancing methane production from organic material, involves establishing baseline conditions of the organic material, including establishing baseline concentrations of at least four light metal cations in the organic material, the light metal cations comprises divalent and monovalent cations; adjusting pH and alkalinity of the organic material to enhance methane production from the organic material; and adjusting proportions of the light metal cations in the organic material to enhance methane production from the organic material, the adjusting comprising adjusting the ratio of the divalent to monovalent cations, adjusting the ratio of a first light metal cation to a second light metal cation, and adjusting the ratio of a third light metal cation to a fourth light metal cation.