Biochemically enhanced methane production from coal

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Title Biochemically enhanced methane production from coal
Publication Type dissertation
School or College College of Engineering
Department Civil & Environmental Engineering
Author Opara, Aleksandra
Date 2012-08
Description For many years, biogas was connected mostly with the organic matter decomposition in shallow sediments (e.g., wetlands, landfill gas, etc.). Recently, it has been realized that biogenic methane production is ongoing in many hydrocarbon reservoirs. This research examined microbial methane and carbon dioxide generation from coal. As original contributions methane production from various coal materials was examined in classical and electro-biochemical bench-scale reactors using unique, developed facultative microbial consortia that generate methane under anaerobic conditions. Facultative methanogenic populations are important as all known methanogens are strict anaerobes and their application outside laboratory would be problematic. Additional testing examined the influence of environmental conditions, such as pH, salinity, and nutrient amendments on methane and carbon dioxide generation. In 44-day ex-situ bench-scale batch bioreactor tests, up to 300,000 and 250,000 ppm methane was generated from bituminous coal and bituminous coal waste respectively, a significant improvement over 20-40 ppm methane generated from control samples. Chemical degradation of complex hydrocarbons using environmentally benign reagents, prior to microbial biodegradation and methanogenesis, resulted in dissolution of up to 5% bituminous coal and bituminous coal waste and up to 25% lignite in samples tested.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Fuel; Methane; Microbial
Subject LCSH Methane -- Production methods
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name Doctor of Philosophy
Language eng
Rights Management Copyright © Aleksandra Opara 2012
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 24,644,818 bytes
Identifier etd3/id/1767
Source Original in Marriott Library Special Collections, TN7.5 2012 .O63
ARK ark:/87278/s6kd2cqn
Setname ir_etd
ID 195456
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6kd2cqn
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