2024: Biological Remediation of Methane Emissions From Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells
There are an estimated 3.5 million abandoned oil and gas wells in the United States, and fugitive emissions of methane from these wells are estimated to be equivalent to releasing 7.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. The traditional method to plug wells is to enclose them in cement, but this process is expensive: roughly $40,000 per well. This project aims to address methane emissions more affordably, by covering wells with biologically based filters. Such biofilters convert methane into carbon dioxide. Though CO2 is also a potent greenhouse gas, methane has significantly more harmful short-term impact – converting methane to CO2 decreases its 100-year global warming impact by more than 95%. The researchers will build and test their biofilters in the lab, then evaluate their real-world performance on abandoned oil and gas wells in Allegany State Park in Western New York State.
Investigators: Matthew Reid, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Ruth Richardson, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Jason Oliver, Animal Science and PRO-DAIRY