Project overview

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and is leaked into the atmosphere at different natural and industrial places. A big part of the industrial methane emission is in the agricultural sector in places like barns¹, Bacteria in the rumen of cows and other cattle produce methane. ⁠or paddy fields^2,3 Bacteria in the soil that produce methane. (rice fields). Natural methane emission places are for example wetlands⁴ land areas saturated with water in which methane producing bacteria reside. or gas hydrates⁵ Gas hydrates are trapped ice-like crystals of gas that are only stable in a specific temperature and pressure range. Found on continental shelves and under permafrost. To minimize the leakage of methane in these or other places one would want to breakdown methane locally. Or even better, one could convert methane to methanol or biomass so it can be more easily transported and used as a bio-fuel instead of being discarded. The current technology doesn't allow this kind of small scale local breakdown of methane, because this process requires high pressure and very high temperatures to break the strong bonds within one methane molecule.⁶⁠ An attractive alternative is bio-conversion of methane. Methanotrophs single-cell organisms that metabolise methane. can naturally breakdown methane and use it as their sole carbon and energy source. Even better, the enzyme methane monooxygenase (MMO) link to more info that these methanotrophs use can breakdown methane at ambient temperatures and pressure.^6-9⁠