Researchers from Penn State and Stanford University say a microbe can turn wind and solar electricity into natural gas while sucking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But it’s commercial feasibility is not yet tested.
These researchers have determined that an organism called Methanobacterium palustre, when submerged in water on an electrically-charged cathode, will produce methane (i.e., natural gas, CH4) — supposedly at an 80% efficiency rate.
The carbon-neutrality of this approach stems from (1) using surplus electricity generation from non-emitting wind or solar and (2) the microbe extracts the carbon atom for the methane from the CO2 in the atmosphere.
Read more at: www.csmonitor.com
