The responsibility to reduce greenhouse gases is huge, and scientists have found a "super mini helper" in nature! New research has discovered a special type of methanotrophic bacteria that can more efficiently decompose methane, the second-largest greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Researchers have high hopes for this bacterium, but it is still in the laboratory stage and how to scale it up is still a big challenge.
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Also works in low concentration methane environment
Methane is the world's second largest source of greenhouse effect, after carbon dioxide. Calculated on a 20-year basis, the warming potential of methane is 84 times that of carbon dioxide. Human activities such as oil and gas, industry, agriculture, and landfills all have the potential to produce methane.
Methanotrophs (also known as methanophiles) are not a new discovery, but these bacteria have high environmental requirements. Most of them will only grow rapidly when the methane concentration reaches 5,000 to 10,000 ppm. But the concentration of methane in the atmosphere is about 1.9ppm. Even in places where methane is easily produced, such as landfills, rice fields, and petroleum wells, the concentration is only about 500 ppm. It is not feasible to rely on general methanotrophic bacteria to reduce methane.
However, a team composed of the University of Washington and the U.S. Navy Academy has found a new possibility. They discovered a methanotroph that works even at lower methane concentrations. The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on August 21.
The team tested six species of methanotrophs. Among them, the strain "Methylotuvimicrobium buryatense 5GB1C" performed particularly well. According to "Chemical & Engineering News", this strain can quickly "eat" methane even when the methane concentration reaches 200 to 1000 ppm.
"PHYS" pointed out that 5GB1C can not only consume methane at low concentrations, but also continuously increase its own quantity. It consumes methane faster than other bacteria.
The 5GB1C has another benefit. One of the authors, Mary E. Lidstrom, a microbiologist and chemical engineer at the University of Washington, explained to the Guardian that promoting bacterial activity may increase nitrous oxide (N2O), the third largest greenhouse gas. However, this strain did not produce nitrous oxide during the experiment.
There are still financial and technical barriers to expanding the scale.
Researchers hope the new findings will lead to new opportunities to reduce methane emissions. Lidstrom said, "The biggest application obstacle at present is the technical issue. The processing device for decomposing methane must first be expanded 20 times. After this is achieved, there are also issues of capital investment and public acceptance. We estimate that 3 to The pilot test can be completed within four years, and whether it can be expanded depends on the possibility of funding and business transfer."
According to the Greenhouse Gas Bulletin released by the United Nations in 2022, the concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide will increase by 49%, 162% and 24% respectively compared with pre-industrial levels in 2021, with methane increasing by the highest proportion. According to data from the World Meteorological Organization, methane concentrations will increase by 15 ppb and 18 ppb in 2020 and 2021 respectively, which is the largest increase since systematic records began in 1983.
References:
*The Guardian (22 August 2023), Bacteria that 'eat' methane could slow global heating, study finds
*Chemical& Engineering News (August 27, 2023), Methane-eating bacteria could one day slow global warming
*Clean Technicia (August 4, 2023), Got Climate Change? Methane-Eating Bacteria To The Rescue!
*National Library of Medicine (August 21, 2023), A methanotrophic bacterium to enable methane removal for climate mitigation
*ClimateScience (January 9, 2023), Greenhouse Gases: What is Warming Up Our Earth?
*Phys.org (August 24, 2023), Researchers identify a type of bacteria that eats low volumes of methane
Source: Environmental Information Center
