Rethinking biological activation of methane and conversion to liquid fuels

摘要

Meeting the increasing demand for petroleum by the global transportation sector has required the deployment of new extraction technologies, such as enhanced oil recovery and hydraulic fracturing of shale rock as well as exploitation of resources such as tar sands and oil shale~(1,2). This transition to unconventional resources is accompanied by an increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 0.5–3 times higher than that of conventional resources(Fig. 1a)~3.