Nutrient and acetate amendment leads to acetoclastic methane production and microbial community change in a non-producing Australian coal well.

ABSTRACT: Coal mining is responsible for 11% of total anthropogenic methane emission thereby contributing considerably to climate change. Attempts to harvest coalbed methane for energy production are challenged by relatively low methane concentrations. In this study, we investigated whether nutrient and acetate amendment of a non-producing sub-bituminous coal well could transform the system to a methane source. We tracked cell counts, methane production, acetate concentration and geochemical parameters for 25 months in one amended and one unamended coal well in Australia. Additionally, the microbial community was analysed with 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing at 17 and 25 months after amendment and complemented by metagenome sequencing at 25 months. We found that cell numbers increased rapidly from

SUBMITTER: In 't Zandt MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6011947 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature