Russia may have another major competitor in the natural gas market. Scientists proved that even single-celled creatures referred to as archaea can produce natural gas. Electrochaea, a company based in Germany, has already started the production of gas using microorganisms. The archaea bacteria can ferment carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methane - the primary element of natural gas. The company has developed this technology and managed to raise 36 million euros. The technology implies that using methane fermentation the bacteria produce gas, which consists of methane and carbon dioxide with a small amount of hydrogen and trace hydrogen sulfide. The gas can be used for heating, electricity, and it may substitute gasoline. The microbial electrochemical cells consume industrial CO2 emissions and green hydrogen. “Slightly than utilizing the fossil gasoline that comes over from Mr. Putin and others, we need to substitute that and make it renewable,” Doris Hafenbradl, managing director of Electrochaea GmbH, stated. “It’s a low carbon-intensity gasoline that we are able to make comparatively rapidly to interchange the fossil model.” However, the power-to-methane company needs more financing estimated at billions of euros to make the technology competitive in the market.
