Mining the Deep Sea for Microbial Ethano- and Propanogenesis
Critical Need:
Project Innovation + Advantages:
Harvard University will develop new methods to harness naturally occurring microbial communities for the biological production of ethane and propane. Strong indirect evidence suggests that ethane and propane are produced in the ocean by communities of benthic microorganisms in unique deep-sea sediments under specific conditions. The team will target the microbial communities in the ethane- and propane-rich hydrothermal sediments of the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California. During the project, the team will recover and characterize seafloor sediment from the basin with the goal of identifying the biological processes underlying ethane and propane production, as well as the geochemical and physical conditions required to stimulate and sustain production. The team will also use a competitiveness analysis to evaluate the industrial relevance and scalability of these processes in a laboratory environment. If successful, this work could contribute significantly to the production of valuable ethane and propane from renewable feedstocks for subsequent production of “green” chemicals, products, and fuels.