Posted on 11/17/2004 10:25:10 AM PST by cogitator
Researchers at Luca Technologies have made a discovery regarding natural gas production in Wyoming's Powder River Basin that could lead to a renewable source of energy for generations to come.
The company today announced that laboratory evidence shows that the Powder River Basin (PRB) coals are generating natural gas in real time through the ongoing activity of anaerobic microbes (bacteria that live in the absence of oxygen) resident in those coal fields.
The company has termed sites where this microbial conversion of hydrocarbon deposits (coals, organic shales, or oil) to methane occurs "Geobioreactors," and believes the careful management of such sites may offer a new long-term solution to U.S. energy needs.
Robert Pfeiffer, LUCA Technologies president and chief executive officer commented, "Our research on native coal, water and microbial samples from the PRB has determined that PRB coals can produce natural gas in real time."
"This finding suggests that the gas in the PRB need not be an ancient remnant of microbial activity, as generally believed, but instead is being actively created today."
"Moreover, we can increase or decrease methane production by PRB microbes by altering their access to water or nutrients, or halt gas production entirely by exposing the organisms to oxygen or heat sterilization."
"This finding holds the potential of turning what is today thought to be a finite energy resource into a renewable source of natural gas that could potentially go on for hundreds of years."
LUCA believes that in order to attempt to maximize the ultimate recovery of methane from this potentially enormous natural energy resource it will be necessary to amend certain current operating practices as well as review current legal and regulatory underpinnings of energy development.
The company is currently discussing its findings with Wyoming and U.S. national agencies, as well as with major energy companies working in the PRB region.
Microbial Methane Production from Coal
It has long been known that certain ancient microorganisms are "methanogens" -- microbes that generate methane by metabolizing other hydrocarbon sources.
While it has also been generally accepted that much of the methane resident in coal fields was produced by such organisms, most of this production was thought to have occurred millions of years ago, when the hydrocarbon deposits were less mature and closer to the surface of the earth.
More recently, however, research has suggested that living methanogenic organisms may be present and actively forming methane within some major coalfields. LUCA scientists, employing the tools of modern biotechnology and genomics, have confirmed the presence of such microbes within anaerobic core samples from the PRB.
In addition to demonstrating that methane production by these microbes can be stimulated by the introduction of additional nutrient compounds, or suppressed by heat sterilization or the introduction of oxygen, LUCA has shown that radio-labeled CO2 (carbon dioxide) introduced to these PWB core samples is converted to radio-labeled methane.
This demonstrates that the methane formation is the result of a biological process occurring today.
"The United States has enormous amounts of buried hydrocarbon reserves, many of which cannot be extracted in an economically or environmentally benign fashion with current technologies and production practices," said Mr. Pfeiffer.
"Any of these settings, given the right set of conditions, has the potential to produce biogenic methane in a long-term, sustainable fashion."
Of course this will never appear on the AP wire science feed the way obscure doom and gloom studies from environmental groups constantly show up.
I also wonder about what role microbes have in oil formation.
It's been posted at WorldNetDaily back in the summer. Oil is continuously formed. I for one never believed in the fossil crap.
I thought methane had (has) a strong odor of rotting eggs?
This sort of thing has been known to happen in science. :^) But if it's true, then the truth will out all the same.
It is just the most fascinating, exciting, and encouraging development -- to say that it's ongoing biological activity that is responsible for natural gas production, not just the decay of ancient dinosaurs. The latter, of course, points to the finitude of the source, while the former to a virtually limitless potential.
--tasteless, odorless--
An odorant is added so we can be alerted to leaks. Without odorant, we would never know when the pilot light goes out.
Thanks!
Thanks Freepers! So does methane also = electricty generation or just home heating/cooking?
You are thinking of Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S). Somtimes present in natural gas at the wellhead (Sour Gas).
Yes, it does appear that OIL may indeed be a byproduct of natural processes going on in the earth and not the FINITE resource of old dinosaurs devaying as once believed.
Coal, you can find evidence that it was once living matter, fossils, etc. In Oil however this is not true, a supposition was postulated that Oil must be made by the same or similar processes as coal and are a result of biological decay.
Evidence is mounting however that this is not the case, and that the production of oil may well be an ongoing process. Old abandoned oil fields have more oil in them now then when they were shut down... suggesting new oil is still being introduced to them... etc etc etc.
I believe in time we will discover that Oil is indeed being created today and is the result of microbe activity below the surface.
No, that's hydrogen sulfide (H2S). H2S is commonly found in association with anaerobically-produced methane, because other anaerobes use sulfate as an oxidant in the absence of oxygen. The by-product is H2S, and perhaps some mercaptans. Methane is probably odorless, but the sulfur compounds sure aren't.
Oh, I thought this was an article about Congress.
Too bad for the other older fields that they used water, brine and steam injection to remove the last drop...killed the microbes?
More than likely. But think about the potential if the microbes could be re-introduced.
Thats sulphur dioxide..
Thanks for all the pointer's to Gold. I just ordered his book. I'm looking foward to reading it.
No, it's hydrogen sulfide. Sulfur dioxide has a bit of an odor, but not like sulfides.
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