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Page added on May 1, 2014
The Bacteria That Can Mitigate Fracked Natural Gas Before It Pollutes the Atmosphere
By the ton, methane from fracking has about 20 times the global warming effect of carbon dioxide. Researchers at a college in the United Kingdom believe they have found a tiny way to mitigate the greenhouse gas before it spreads into the atmosphere.
Methylocella silvestris, a single bacterial strain found in soil and other environments around the world, is capable of growing on methane and propane, according to research by a team at the University of East Anglia that was published in Nature, a weekly, international publication.
“The findings could help mitigate the effects of the release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere from both natural gas seeps in the environment and those arising from man-made activity such as fracking and oil spills,” according to a statement from the university.
While some previously believed that different groupings of bacteria could metabolize methane and propane, researchers say their recent findings mean that just one bacteria could “mop up” natural gas components to reduce pollution.
“This is very important for environments exposed to natural gas, either naturally or through human activity,” said Colin Murrell, the lead researcher and a professor from UEA’s school of Environmental Sciences. “These microbes may play an important role in mitigating the effects of methane and other gases before they have a chance to escape into the atmosphere.”
Methylocella is found in peat, tundra and other forest soils in Northern Europe. Murrell and his team envision the researching aiding land-use management decisions for areas near fracking wells or where methane and propane could be released.
“We have shown that one microbe can grow on both methane and propane at a similar rate,” Murrell said. “This is because it contains two fascinating enzyme systems which it uses to harness both gases at once.”
The Natural Environment Research Council and the Norwich Research Park’s Earth and Life Systems Alliance provided funding for the research.
3 Comments on "The Bacteria That Can Mitigate Fracked Natural Gas Before It Pollutes the Atmosphere"
rockman on Thu, 1st May 2014 7:32 pm
Nice try boys but at one level you’re reinventing the wheel: microbes have been used to bio remediate oil contamination for decades. Second, any methane released from producing wells (frac’d or otherwise) is being released directly into the atmosphere you can’t use their new bugs…you just need to fix the leaks. As far as I recall the hasn’t been one story about NG making it from a frac’d reservoir to the atmosphere. Debates about contaminating shallow aquifers but that’s a different situation.
Speaking of which: we discussed many times how much naturally occurring methane contaminates fresh water aquifers in many areas of the country. Recall the recent story of a landowner having his lawsuit (he made a film on NG burning from the end of his garden hose) against a frac’ng company blow up in his face when evidence turned up showing he had been venting NG from his water well for decades before any wells we drilled let alone frac’d in his area. I saw my first NG vent line from a water well in Texas almost 40 years ago. Many thousands of such wells in just Texas with naturally occurring methane. And guess what: there are no state or fed laws governing this source of potent GHG.
Keith_McClary on Fri, 2nd May 2014 12:38 am
Presumably these bacteria poop CO2. If the CH4 was released to the atmosphere it would be converted to CO2 (+H2O) in a few years. So no mitigation in the longer term.
GregT on Fri, 2nd May 2014 3:41 pm
Instead of trying to figure out ways to mitigate the problem that they plan to create, wouldn’t it be smarter to not create the problem in the first place?