{"id":40,"date":"2020-02-03T20:12:24","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T20:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edx.netl.doe.gov\/geomicrobiology\/?page_id=40"},"modified":"2026-01-09T17:36:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T17:36:36","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edx.netl.doe.gov\/sites\/geomicrobiology\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Geomicrobiology Team at NETL strives to provide insight into microbial processes that will occur in various energy environments, giving guidance to industry on risks driven by microbial processes, potential mitigation strategies, and the potential for the microbiology to be indicative of energy production\/performance. The Geomicrobiology Team also strives to support development of a novel strategy that will drastically increase the economic feasibility of reducing, treating, and reusing waste streams in the energy industry.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Carbon Storage<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>

Evidence indicates that subsurface microbial communities currently affect carbon storage reservoir properties and wellbore integrity through plugging\/dissolution processes such as biomineralization (scaling), acid formation (biocorrosion), and biofilm formation (biofouling).\u00a0 This project provides insight into microbial processes that will occur in carbon storage reservoirs, giving guidance to the energy industry on risks driven by microbial processes and potential mitigation strategies.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Carbon Upgrading<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>

Many product streams in the energy industry, such as carbon dioxide or syngas, are either considered waste or have not yet been utilized to full potential. Microorganisms can biocatalyze these carbon outputs into value-added products, increasing the efficiency of power generation.\u00a0 NETL research is developing strategies to increase the economic feasibility carbon upgrading from energy product streams, introducing a new commodity market to the energy industry.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Subsurface Hydrogen Storage<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>

Hydrogen has been identified as a flexible energy carrier with a high energy density. For this reason, there has been increased interest the potential for subsurface hydrogen storage. However, the compatibility of adapting the current storage strategies to include H2<\/sub> injection has not been fully demonstrated. Natural microbial communities within targeted storage reservoirs are expected to be stimulated by hydrogen, enabling microbial activity that will reduce the gas quality and result in corrosive byproducts. In order to fully understand the impact microbial activity will have on reservoir compatibility with H2<\/sub> gas injection, NETL is researching the change in microbial community, gas composition, and chemical byproducts with relevant samples at storage reservoir conditions.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Oil and Gas<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>
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Subsurface microbial communities currently affect energy production, reservoir properties, and wellbore integrity through processes such as biomineralization (scaling), acid formation (corrosion), biofilm formation (biofouling), and metal mobility. This project provides insight into microbial processes that occur in oil and gas reservoirs, giving guidance to the energy industry on risks driven by microbial processes, potential mitigation strategies, and the potential for the microbiology to be indicative of energy production\/performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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Water Management for Power Systems<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>
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While flue gas desulfurization systems are an important technology in coal-fired power plants, much of the resulting wastewater contains other pollutants, such as selenium, that must be treated before discharge. Selenium is of interest because it can cause outweighed consequences even in small amounts. Currently, it is known that biological treatment can be utilized to treat FGD wastewater in order to remove selenium, but the microorganisms involved in this process have not been studied thoroughly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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Produced Water DNA Database<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>
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The PW-DNA takes publicly available data (microbial DNA\/RNA, geochemistry, and metadata) collected from in-situ<\/em> hydrocarbon sources and combines it into one database that contains over 3,500 samples. By creating environment-specific public databases researchers are not only creating more microbial relevant analyses but we argue it will also help solve the growing concerns scientists have with the current state of publicly deposited data in three ways: 1.) It will create more relevant metadata and geochemical data tables that will encourage increased data input. 2.) Datasets become more manageable and relevant to the target researchers’ needs increasing the usability and effectiveness. 3.) Datasets are curated following standardized pipelines for complete transparency and comparability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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Coalbed Systems<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>
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The Geomicrobiology Team is evaluating the under-characterized microbial community of the Appalachian Basin. In addition, strategies to stimulate microbial coal-to-methane production are being investigated. The study of the native coal-to-methane producing microbial community found in coal seams will support assessments of the potential for biogenic methane production to contribute to the U.S. fossil fuel energy supply.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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Biological Critical Material Recovery<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>
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Acid mine drainage (AMD) results from the interaction of groundwater with abandoned coal mines, producing waters that require treatment to minimize environmental impacts. This waste stream is a potentially valuable resource for REE and CM recovery; the Appalachian basin AMD alone could meet up to 30% of US annual REO demand in 2018. Microorganisms that naturally reside in these systems may be already have the capability to recover trapped CMs. This would create a value stream from these waste products would improve the economics of AMD treatment and while also addressing the need for a domestic source of CMs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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