Bio-gasification
Researchers at Southern Illinois University (SIU; Carbondale, Ill.; www.siu.edu) are developing microbial processes to convert coal into methane. The team has developed strains of bacteria and archaea that consume coal and excrete methane, and is looking at how to apply them to waste coal leftover from mining operations, as well as to in-situ coal, such as material left in abandoned coal mines. The researchers say the microbes and associated processes could allow the harvesting of methane from areas where the coal is “unmine-able” for various reasons, such as poor quality, small seams, or dispersed distribution of coal. More than 200 species were identified from samples taken from water surrounding coal deposits. The researchers then applied various techniques to stimulate the microbes’ production of methane.