Is gas produced by bacteria always mainly methane? Or, are there bacteria out there that produce some biogas composed mainly of hydrogen, natural gas, propane, butane?
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$\begingroup$ synthetic biology is working hard to produce such things, but they aren't found naturally in significant quantities I think. $\endgroup$ – shigeta Feb 24 '13 at 4:59
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2$\begingroup$ note that methanogens actually use $H_2$ that is generated by other bacteria. $\endgroup$ – mart Feb 25 '13 at 12:10
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$\begingroup$ Isn't natural gas mainly methane? $\endgroup$ – Rodrigo de Azevedo Apr 11 '20 at 7:24
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Microbes can produce several gasses other than methane.
- All microbes produce $CO_2$ through the oxidation of reduced carbon
Additionally some metabolic pathways produce other gases.
Photosynthetic microbes produce $O_2$
Sulfur reducing bacteria can produce $H_2S$ (as @ohcanada points out)
Denitrifying bacteria produce $NO$, $N_2O$, and $N_2$
Fermenters produce $H_2$ (as @mart indicates)
There may be others that I am not thinking of but these are some of the major players...
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$\begingroup$ Good answer. Although fermentation can produce carbon dioxide too. $\endgroup$ – Jack Aidley Feb 25 '13 at 13:38
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$\begingroup$ @JackAidley indeed they do... thanks. I edited the answer. $\endgroup$ – DQdlM Feb 25 '13 at 14:40
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Well, some bacteria can produce Hydrogen Sulfide gas. For example, Proteus and Salmonella. The presence of $H_2S$ producing bacteria is actually clinically significant and we have a way to test for this, which is via the use of TSI (Triple Sugar Iron) media.
Assume you set up the test correctly, $H_2S$ producing bacteria will generate dark deposit within the media.
In the clinical setting, there are other choices beside TSI, such as SIM media and API20E.
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$\begingroup$ Thanks sviter! This is actually my first time using Stackexchange so I'm still trying to familiarize myself about the word format here. $\endgroup$ – ohcanada Feb 24 '13 at 15:05
