PatIntNews

Researcher Bruce Logan and co-workers at Pennsylvania State University have found a way to Electrical current to methane.

We know methane can be very useful as well as a problem, depending upon the situation. For example it is problem when it found in microbial electrolysis cell because it reduces hydrogen yield.

The researchers have been studying the formation of methane in microbial electrolysis cell in an effort to avoid it; they can now synthesize methane using electrons directly from current in addition to using hydrogen gas (DOI 10.1021/es803531g).

This basic discovery could lead to a process of generation of methane, the fundamental component of natural gas.

Methanobacterium palustre, a microbe, is a methanogen which means it can reduce CO2 to methane with H2 as an electron donor. The direct transfer of electrical current, or more precisely, electrons, to methanogens suggests that it may be possible to generate methane from wind or solar power sources; the methane could then be stored as fuel for later use. That mean we can make biofuel from any biodegradable.

What the paper implies is this: if you have a source of current, you have a source of electrons, and you can make methane electrochemically.