ABSTRACT
Methanotrophic bacteria are used to limit emissions of methane from such anthropogenic sources of the gas as landfill sites, wastewater treatment plants and methane-generating coalmines. Research shows that the bacteria capable of using this methane as a source of carbon and hence energy are a large group of aerobes, primarily microaerophilic species (i.e. ones displaying a preference for O2 concentrations below those in the atmosphere – Mancinelli (1995). Such bacteria develop best where the substrate has a pH of 6-8 (King 1990, Bender & Conrad 1995, Arif et al. 1996, Min et al. 2002), and where the temperature is in the range 25-35◦C (Whalen et al. 1990, Boeckx & Van Cleemput 1996, Reay et al. 2001, Min et al. 2002).
