Methanogenesis (redirected from Biomethanation)

Methanogenesis (bacteria)

The microbial formation of methane, which is confined to anaerobic habitats where occurs the production of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, formic acid, methanol, methylamines, or acetate—the major substrates used by methanogenic microbes (methanogens). In fresh-water or marine sediments, in the intestinal tracts of animals, or in habitats engineered by humans such as sewage sludge or biomass digesters, these substrates are the products of anaerobic bacterial metabolism. Methanogens are terminal organisms in the anaerobic microbial food chain—the final product, methane, being poorly soluble, anaerobically inert, and not in equilibrium with the reaction which produces it.

Two highly specialized digestive organs, the rumen and the cecum, have been evolved by herbivores to delay the passage of cellulose fibers so that microbial fermentation may be complete. In these organs, large quantities of methane are produced from hydrogen and carbon dioxide or formic acid by methanogens. From the rumen, an average cow may belch 26 gallons (100 liters) of methane per day.

Methanogens are the only living organisms that produce methane as a way of life. The biochemistry of their metabolism is unique and definitively delineates the group. Two reductive biochemical strategies are employed: an eight-electron reduction of carbon dioxide to methane or a two-electron reduction of a methyl group to methane. All methogens form methane by reducing a methyl group. The major energy-yielding reactions used by methanogens utilize substrates such as hydrogen, formic acid, methanol, acetic acid, and methylamine. Dimethyl sulfide, carbon monoxide, and alcohols such as ethanol and propanol are substrates that are used less frequently. See Archaebacteria, Bacterial physiology and metabolism