The future of climate tech could come not from a lab but from a lake. That’s because scientists are exploring using methane-eating bacteria to fight the constant methane emissions found at landfills.
Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases on Earth. It traps over 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide in its first 20 years in the atmosphere. Methane comes from all around us, including landfills, rice paddies, coal mines, and dairy farms.
As such, tackling methane emissions is one of the fastest ways to slow near-term climate change, and that’s where these bacteria come in. Later this year, a team of researchers will deploy their first field-ready methane-eating bioreactor in Washington. Inside the container-sized unit lives a carefully cultivated strain of Methylomicrobium buryatense, a methane-eating bacterium originally discovered in a Russian lake, reports say.
When methane-rich air flows through the reactor, the bacteria will feed on it, effectively filtering harmful emissions from the air. Even at relatively low concentrations, these microbes get to work, too, the team says. They claim their bioreactors can slash methane levels by 60 to 80 percent in treated air.
The methane is converted into protein-rich biomass and a small amount of carbon dioxide, a trade-off with a far more negligible climate impact. Once optimized, the system could generate revenue from the protein byproduct, too, making it not just climate-smart but also business-savvy.
In theory, the design surrounding this methane-eating bacteria could one day scale to remove 24 million tons of emissions annually. The technology is still in the early days, though, with funding and testing hurdles ahead. Additional pilots are planned for farms, with another landfill trial coming soon.
While bioreactors won’t eliminate all methane emissions, they offer a compelling new approach to fighting climate change. Whether that approach pans out or not, though, remains to be seen. However, with the UN claiming we’re failing in our efforts to control climate change, any leg up we can get is needed.
