Researchers from the United States showed that the formation of coal is associated with the effects of microorganisms that allocate methane. Dedicated to the mechanism of coal formation The article of scientists was published in the journal Science.
Coal is formed when the vegetable substance in swampy forests falls into the water and burst quickly. The organic substance becomes peat, then the lignite, then brown coal, then coal, and, finally, anthracite, the richest carbon. In the process of carbon processing, methoxyl groups (consisting of carbon atoms, oxygen and three hydrogen atoms) are converted to methane, however, as it happens, it remained unscrewed.
In order to better understand this process, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania State of the California Institute of Technology analyzed stable carbon isotopes in methoxyl groups from coal samples collected worldwide. It was found that the isotope profile does not correspond to the mechanism for the formation of methane from coal under the influence of heat, increased acidity or catalytic reactions. Instead, it corresponded to the formation process under the influence of microorganisms.
It turned out that aerobic microbes are well decomposed by coal cycles – which may not be made of anaerobic. One of the few, what they can do is cut off the methoxy sites, “explains one of the researchers, the Associate Professor of the University of Pennsylvania, Max Lloyd. Release groups gradually turn into methane. After separation of all methoxyl radicals, the reaction stops.