18 april
A group of microbiologists from the Netherlands found out that the bacterium Candidatus Methanoperedens is able to convert methane into electricity. Scientists have managed to convert 31 percent of the harmful gas into electrical energy. In the future, they plan to increase the efficiency of the technology, reports Tengrinews.kz with reference to “Popular mechanics".
As the publication explains, Candidatus Methanoperedens habitually live in fresh water bodies – ditches or lakes. Methane is not harmful for them, but on the contrary, it is required for growth. They need nitrogen to break it down, so Candidatus Methanoperedens thrives in nitrogen-polluted groundwater. At first, researchers from the Netherlands were interested only in the transformation processes inside the microorganism. But later scientists decided on a more interesting experiment.
Dutch microbiologists have created something like a battery with two “terminals”: one of them is biological, and the other is chemical. Candidatus Methanoperedens was grown on one of the electrodes, where the bacteria began to give off electrons that appeared due to the splitting of methane. Thus, it was possible to achieve the conversion of 31 percent of the generated methane into electricity.
“It can be very useful to turn around for the human energy sector and the environment in general. In installations like ours, methane is produced by microorganisms and then burned, which drives the main turbine of the mechanism.”, – объяснила соавтор исследования Корнелия Вельте.
According to the publication, researchers from the Netherlands have taken a step towards receiving the Nobel Prize for solving the planet's climate problems.