Now, a bacteria that can eat methane. Can it reduce global warming? Researchers say it’s possible

Source: The post is based on the article “Now, a bacteria that can eat methane. Can it reduce global warming? Researchers say it’s possible”  published in Down To Earth on 22nd August 2023.

What is the News?

A study has found that a specific bacteria named Methylotuvimicrobium buryatense 5GB1C could help reduce methane emissions from places like landfills and oil wells.

Background:

The rapid increase of the methane in the atmosphere creates great urgency to develop and deploy technologies for methane mitigation. 

One approach to removing methane is to use bacteria called methanotrophs for which methane is their carbon and energy source.

Methanotrophs naturally convert methane to CO2 and biomass, a value-added product and a co-benefit of methane removal.

But methanotrophs grow best when the methane concentration is around 5,000-10,000 parts per million (ppm).

However, methane levels in key emission sites are around 500 ppm. So the researchers screened a range of existing methanotrophs to identify those that consume such low methane (500 ppm) at significantly higher rates.

They found that Methylotuvimicrobium buryatense 5GB1C performed the best at 500 ppm.

What is Methylotuvimicrobium buryatense 5GB1C?

Methylotuvimicrobium buryatense 5GB1C is a bacterial strain that consumes methane.

It can grow at low methane concentrations ranging from 200-1,000 ppm. These features make this strain a promising candidate for methane removal technology.

Significance: Methane is a significant contributor to global warming, It is over 85 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2) on a 20-year timescale. It is responsible for nearly 30 percent of the total global warming.

– Hence, this bacteria, if used on a large scale, could prevent 240 million tonnes of methane from entering the atmosphere by 2050.

– It can also help reduce the global temperature rise by about 0.21-0.22 degrees Celsius by 2050 by removing a substantial amount of methane.