We are delighted to share a new publication in mBio exploring the heat generated by methane-oxidising bacteria (methanotrophs). The study provides the first direct measurements of metabolic heat production during biological methane oxidation and demonstrates that these microorganisms dissipate remarkably high levels of energy as heat while consuming methane. [journals.asm.org]
The findings suggest that methanotrophs could play a dual role in tackling methane emissions while also offering opportunities for energy recovery in methane mitigation technologies such as biofilters and landfill treatment systems. [journals.asm.org]
Read the paper: https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.00980-26
Herzyk TA, Gomez-Borraz TL, Gonzalez-Cabaleiro R, Sloan WT. “Quantifying the metabolic heat from aerobic methanotrophs.” mBio (2026).