a bonobo humanity?

this gives a general idea..

So here’s a relatively short one. I have/had another blog called ‘solutions ok’ which I haven’t touched in ages, I’d rather have a one-size-fits-all blog – one failure’s better than two, as they don’t say. Anyhow, here’s a little solution I read about in New Scientist – methane-eating bacteria. Not that this idea is particularly new, you’ll find videos promoting it from more than five years ago, but apparently it will soon be put into practice – at least in practice:

Later this year, researchers in the US will deploy a bioreactor filled with a specially bred strain of methane-eating bacteria at a landfill site in Washington. They hope that the field test will prove that these bacteria, known as methanotrophs, can be deployed in bioreactors such as this to harvest methane from the air, even when it is at relatively low concentrations.

So what’s a bioreactor, I ask myself. Well, it’s what it sounds like, a bound system, as with a nuclear reactor, in which controlled reactions, this time biological, can take place. If the system is made to work effectively, it presumably could be replicated globally. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2, though not as prevalent, nor as long-lasting in the atmosphere. However, emissions of methane are rising. The main sources are agriculture, fossil fuels and waste material in landfills. These bioreactors will ultimately target all three, or so it is hoped. 

The particular methanotroph to be tested is a strain, specially bred for purpose, called Methylomicrobium buryatense 5GB1C (you will be tested). They’re still working on its methane-harvesting ability, so as to deal with the relatively low levels measured at landfill sites. The idea is to suck the methane-laden air into the bioreactor, where, by means of these methanotrophs, the methane will be converted into useful proteins, plus carbon dioxide (hmmm). The net effect, in any case, will be ‘a reduction in the warming capacity of the air’. 

So this isn’t the only pilot project in the works. Other projects, using methanotrophs ‘encased in hydrogels’ are planned for absorbing and converting methane from wetlands. Apparently these microbes have ‘evolved the enzymatic capacity to bind methane and oxidise it to carbon dioxide and also assimilate it to biomass’, which is a very meritorious thing, from a human perspective. All is not yet lost, apparently.

I’ll keep an eye out for other such solutions in future.

Reference

New scientist, April 19 2025, p13, ‘methane-eating bacteria ready to tackle emissions’.