Some of the natural gas harvested by hydraulic fracturing operations may be of biological origin — made by microorganisms inadvertently injected into shale by oil and gas companies during the hydraulic fracturing process, a new study has found.
adminThe bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans can take electrons needed for growth directly from an electrode power source when iron—its already known source of energy—is absent, new research shows. The study shows that A. ferrooxidans can use direct uptake of electrons from an electrode to fuel the same metabolic pathway that is activated by the oxidation of diffusible iron ions.
