Don’t think he’s a crackpot. This is at least the third university I have heard of trying to do the exact same thing, some with significant success. That means advancing this tech is becoming a good old fashioned capitalist race, with a HUMONGOUS prize going to the first to cross the finish line. As long as that happens before the govt can gum up the works, we should see viable energy from these techs in a few years at most.
Landfills near me have been producing methane and generating electricity for several years.