In-Situ Microbial Conversion of Sequestered Greenhouse Gases
The objectives of the project are to use microbiological in situ bioconversion technology to convert sequestered or naturally-occurring greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, into methane and other useful organic compounds. The key factors affecting coal bioconversion identified in this research include (1) coal properties, (2) thermal maturation and coalification process, (3) microbial population dynamics, (4) hydrodynamics (5) reservoir conditions, and (6) the methodology of getting the nutrients into the coal seams. While nearly all cultures produced methane, we were unable to confirm sustained methane production from the enrichments. We believe that the methane generation may have been derived from readily metabolized organic matter in the coal samples and/or biosoluble organic material in the coal formation water. This raises the intriguing possibility that pretreatment of the coal in the subsurface to bioactivate the coal prior to the injection of microbes and nutrients might be possible. We determined that it would be more cost effective to inject nutrients into coal seams to stimulate indigenous microbes in the coal seams, than to grow microbes in fermentation vats and transport them to the well site. If the coal bioconversion process can be developed on a larger scale, then the cost to generate methane could be less than $1 per Mcf
- Research Organization:
- Altuda Energy Corporation
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-03ER83606
- OSTI ID:
- 1050067
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/AEC/83606- Final Report
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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