Hack fracking for more methane

Abstract

Microbial Ecology Microbes are thought to contribute to chemical processes that occur during hydraulic fracturing of shale. How these communities develop after injection of fracking fluid likely determines whether they are beneficial or detrimental. Borton et al. created laboratory models of the gas-well microbial community seeded with fluid from an active well. Microbes that might boost the methane output of wells proliferated in test conditions amended with glycine betaine, a metabolite produced to counteract the salinity of the well fluids. Amino acid fermentation reactions provided an energy source for the dominant microbes in the culture. The authors analyzed well fluid from 41 active wells in the eastern United States and confirmed production of metabolites that was consistent with the metabolic pathways identified in the laboratory. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 10.1073/pnas.1800155115 (2018).