{"id":13727,"date":"2019-09-25T09:38:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T02:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huib.hueuni.edu.vn\/methane-consuming-bacteria-could-be-the-future-of-fuel-2\/"},"modified":"2024-01-24T09:46:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T02:46:44","slug":"methane-consuming-bacteria-could-be-the-future-of-fuel-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huib.hueuni.edu.vn\/en\/methane-consuming-bacteria-could-be-the-future-of-fuel-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Methane-consuming bacteria could be the future of fuel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Known for their ability to remove methane from the environment and convert it into a usable fuel, methanotrophic bacteria have long fascinated researchers. But how, exactly, these bacteria naturally perform such a complex reaction has been a mystery.<\/p>\n

Now an interdisciplinary team at Northwestern University has found that the enzyme responsible for the methane-methanol conversion catalyzes this reaction at a site that contains just one copper ion.<\/p>\n

This finding could lead to newly designed, human-made catalysts that can convert methane \u2014 a highly potent greenhouse gas \u2014 to readily usable methanol with the same effortless mechanism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe identity and structure of the metal ions responsible for catalysis have remained elusive for decades,\u201d said Northwestern\u2019s Amy C. Rosenzweig, co-senior author of the study. \u201cOur study provides a major leap forward in understanding how bacteria methane-to-methanol conversion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy identifying the type of copper center involved, we have laid the foundation for determining how nature carries out one of its most challenging reactions,\u201d said Brian M. Hoffman, co-senior author.<\/p>\n

The study has been published in the journal Science. By oxidizing methane and converting it to methanol, methanotrophic bacteria (or \u201cmethanotrophs\u201d) can pack a one-two punch. Not only are they removing a harmful greenhouse gas from the environment, they are also generating a readily usable, sustainable fuel for automobiles, electricity and more.<\/p>\n

Current industrial processes to catalyze a methane-to-methanol reaction require tremendous pressure and extreme temperatures, reaching higher than 1,300 degrees Celsius. Methanotrophs, however, perform the reaction at room temperature and \u201cfor free.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Image of methanotrophic bacteria (by J.C. Lara, University of Washington)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile copper sites are known to catalyze methane-to-methanol conversion in human-made materials, methane-to-methanol catalysis at a monocopper site under ambient conditions is unprecedented,\u201d said Matthew O. Ross, a graduate student co-advised by Rosenzweig and Hoffman and the paper\u2019s first author. \u201cIf we can develop a complete understanding of how they perform this conversion at such mild conditions, we can optimize our own catalysts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Original published by Sciencedaily with slightly mod<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Known for their ability to remove methane from the environment and convert it into a usable fuel, methanotrophic bacteria have long fascinated researchers. But how, exactly, these bacteria naturally perform such a complex reaction has been a mystery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[259],"class_list":["post-13727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-and-technology","tag-institute-of-biotechnology-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huib.hueuni.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huib.hueuni.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huib.hueuni.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huib.hueuni.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huib.hueuni.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/huib.hueuni.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huib.hueuni.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huib.hueuni.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huib.hueuni.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huib.hueuni.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}