Oil-eating bacteria could help extract more methane from oil reserves

[M.D. Holloway]

Oil-eating bacteria could help extract more methane from oil reserves - Nature
13th December 2007

An article in Nature magazine describes how researchers at the University of Calgary have worked out how natural bacteria deep within the Earth break down crude oil and produce methane. This knowledge, if small-scale laboratory techniques of accelerating the natural process can be replicated under ground, could help with projects to encourage these bacteria to convert more oil, faster. It could even point towards a way to produce microbial-derived hydrogen.

Microbes living on the crude oil in petroleum reservoirs usually start by biodegrading the simpler oil fractions, leaving behind a sticky residue called 'heavy oil'. They will then start breaking down this heavier substance too, all the while producing methane as a product. There are around six trillion barrels of heavy oil across the globe, lurking beneath the Earth’s surface, but using steam to melt and and extract it uses much energy and usually recovers no more than 17% of the oil.

This looks interesting - providing this on a large scale to grab methane would be a challenge. I can see a real need for this in the tar sands up at Fort MacMoney.

[svandamme]

what's the cost effectiveness of these microbes,
compared to a global effort to :
eat more beans, brussels sprouts, onions, all resulting in an increase of methane production via that way?

sure, it's a nice article and stuff, but it's pretty vague , it doesn't discuss the alternative options for methane production

[M.D. Holloway]

The cost to convert heavy crude to a usable product is very large. Most of the wells that are no longer producing light or medium crude still have loads of heavy that was never pumped out because it was to cost prohibitive - enter the bugs. The bugs eat the heavy stuff and fart methane which you and I can use to power vehicles, heat homes and if enough is available generate electricity.

Enter the tar sands - more crude there than any place but again it is a pain in the $$$ to process - enter the bugs. They eat the heavy crude found in the oil sand and proceed to fart out methan that we can go and burn as an energy source. Savvy?

[svandamme]

i got that part Lube

but ,
can those bugs outfart us Humans if we all go on a steady diet of beans, onions and sprouts?
lot's of tiny little farts, vs uncle Jim-Bob's thunder

[legion]

Pull my finger.

[M.D. Holloway]

and yet another attempt at bringing something to the intelectual table goes uneaten...

[sammyg2]

Al Gore says methane causes global warming. He should know, he pretends to be a scientist.

[legion]

I think the real trick would be to convert heavy crude into light crude.

[frogger]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

and yet another attempt at bringing something to the intelectual table goes uneaten...

I read that the potential energy supply that could be tapped from this is huge. Let's hope this process has some legs.