A new biological filter can survive in scalding acid to eat methane gas for over two years straight without breaking down.
Industrial waste is often too hot or too acidic for standard microbes to survive and clean up. This filter uses a specific community of extreme-loving bacteria that thrive at 45 degrees Celsius and a pH of 2.5. It successfully removed methane from an air stream for more than 700 days without losing efficiency. This is the first time such a system has proven it can handle the harsh reality of long-term industrial use. Replacing expensive chemical scrubbers with these tough microbes could drastically lower the cost of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Long-term performance of thermoacidophilic methane biotrickling filters
SSRN · 6725470
This study investigated thermoacidophilic biotrickling filters (BTFs) for methane mitigation under acidic (pH 2.5) and thermophilic (45 °C) conditions. Four laboratory-scale BTF reactors were operated over ~700 days under anaerobic, microaerobic, and aerobic regimes to evaluate the enrichment, activity, and stability of methane-oxidizing microbial communities. Following an initial establishment phase, biofilms developed successfully on pumice packing, with methane elimination capacities (ECs) re