Experts Working On Converting Co2 Emissions To Natural Gas

Combating CO₂ emissions from industry and coal-fired power stations by turning them into natural gas – it sounds like a scenario for the distant future, but in Wageningen scientists are already making significant progress in implementing this sustainably. A key role is played by an ancient microorganism.

“It may not seem particularly convincing in a time when the government is telling us all we need to come off the gas,” says Annemiek ter Heijne. As a senior researcher at Wageningen University & Research, she is the driving force behind the research on the conversion of CO₂ into methane. “The ultimate goal is to recycle the extensive CO₂ streams we have at present, for example from coal-fired power stations, the steel industry and the food industry, and turn them into methane.”

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Ter Heijne, who is an environmental technologist affiliated with the Wageningen Institute for Environment and Climate Research (WIMEK), uses microorganisms in the conversion. More specifically, she uses archaea, whose name means ‘ancient things’. These microorganisms are found in water treatment plants, in soils and in the oceans. Some species can partially convert CO₂ into methane, producing a mixture called biogas that is made up of about 60 per cent methane (CH4) and 40 per cent carbon dioxide (CO₂). This biogas is a sustainable energy source because of its biological origins.

Triggered by energy transition
Indeed, the transition to more sustainable energy sources that is happening worldwide was the trigger for the bio-electrochemical research being conducted by Ter Heijne’s group. “About ten years ago, no one was really interested in the bio-electrochemical conversion of CO₂ into methane. But now there is a huge demand for sustainable energy.” Not just that, the question of how to store energy has also become urgent. “Take the fluctuations in the supply of wind and solar energy.

We have to be able to store that energy because we lose it otherwise. Batteries discharge slowly over time. You could use some of the solar and wind energy for the CO₂-CH₄ conversion. What is more, methane is a completely stable energy source: you can store it and then draw on it when you need it. You could use iet to fill up empty gas fields, for instance. It is also a practical solution because we already have the infrastructure.”