Methanogens - thoughts, ramblings, questions

[@user-tw3ml9nk9k]

Amazing 🤗.... Where you got really crazy 😧 ( 09:16 Sec) ....... Triggered my comment 😊........ Because I've thought of this several times. Infact, thought I was the only one with this crazy thought in the world 😅. "Pursuing my degree in Microbiology"

[@BiogasUSA]

That’s awesome. Good to know I’m not alone.

[@livingecology]

hey sounds like you opened pandoras bio-digester (; I think this time I can help with some of the questions you brought up , first I've read in a few places and it's my understanding that there are two parts to metanogenisis (the biological creation of methane) the first is the break down of organic molecules (the wast being fed) in to acetic acid or other anaerobic carbon based molecules, this part can be done by "other bugs" and my be more efficient with more specific bacteria or archea, the second part of the process is the actual formation of methane with the consumption of the acetic acid and production of methane. there is a "delicate" balance between the to stages because the first creates acid wich lowers the ph wile the second part is limited to a more ph neutral environment, that's why you can't put to much feed at once or it will all go acidic and the process will stop , in a healthy digester the methane production (literally) eats the acidic molecules creating a balanced . on the part of sterilizing and having a specific culture to my perspective it will not help and probably counter productive as bacteria and archea all have a wide range of biological pathways, meaning thay can do meny different things that create meny different biological compounds like from co2 to metanol acitic acid and meny others , mostly it depends on the chemical conditions thay are found in, so sterling and selecting will not help so much, what more thay are geneticly very flexible so its not like you have a chicken in a pen and you know it will stay a chicken tomorrow, with archea you can come back tomorrow and find a walrus in sted of a chicken. the bio-digester is actually an ecosystem with all the principles of ecosystems applying to it, so it thrives on diversity and is defind by the conditions that are present. I'll share my one (bad) ideas on dealing with the co2 , and oxygen , first as a biology geek I was thinking of organisms that take in co2 and obviously plants and defrent photosynthesisers take in co2 , and thay also produces oxygen as a by product, wich can make a very flammable combination of methane and oxygen gas , on the other hand there are some plants like different kinds of cactus 🌵 that take in co2 and release oxygen at different times and may help filter out the co2 it needs more research, and for the oxygen it reacts with iron in the proses of rust so maybe if the material is fed through some rusted iron it will absorb the oxygen before it gets in the digester.

[@BiogasUSA]

I love your (very bad) idea of using plants to turn ch4 and co2 into ch4 and 02. It would be a lot more flammable but I could never compress it. Thank you again for the comment. This was excellent.