Chapter 10 Anaerobic hydrocarbon biodegradation and the prospects for microbial enhanced energy production

Abstract

There is a biotechnological link between oil and natural gas that is the product of the relatively recent recognition that many hydrocarbons are susceptible to anaerobic biodegradation and can be converted into methane and carbon dioxide. Unlike the well-documented patterns of aerobic oil biodegradation, anaerobic hydrocarbon metabolism was dismissed as ecologically insignificant. This chapter reviews evidence for anaerobic hydrocarbon biodegradation and provide an overview of some of the more generalizing metabolic features. It explores whether these reactions can be predicted, identifies some of the implications for the ability of anaerobes to convert hydrocarbons into methane, and thereby, generates useful energy. There is ample evidence that anaerobic microbial processes occur under reservoir conditions. There is even evidence, albeit indirect, that such processes occur in situ. The most widely used indicator for biological methanogenesis comes from the carbon isotopic abundance signature of the methane in natural gas deposits. The chapter ends with a discussion on microbial enhanced energy recovery and carbon dioxide.