Hydrogenotrophic Methanogenesis and Autotrophic Growth of Methanosarcina thermophila

Table 1

Methanogenic pathways and free energies of the respective central reactions under standard conditions modified from Liu and Whitman [1].

Methanogenic pathway	Reaction of CH4 formation	(kJ/mol)
Acetoclastic methanogenesis	CH3COO^− + H^+ → CH4 + CO2	−33
Hydrogen-independent methylotrophic methanogenesis	4 CH3OH → 3 CH4 + CO2+ 2 H2O	−105
Hydrogen-dependent methylotrophic methanogenesis	CH3OH + H2 → CH4 + H2O	−113
Hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis	4 H2 + CO2 → CH4+ 2 H2O	−135