the process

Unlike traditional Coal Bed Methane (CBM) production processes, our approach isn’t focused on releasing existing natural gas. Our approach creates new sources of gas through innovative means.

Methane is the principal component of natural gas. Our biological process enhances the production of natural gas from low-rank coal. Ciris employs a variety of technologies to take advantage of low-rank coals.

fig 1: Natural Gas Pipelines

fig 2: Wyoming Natural Gas Field

1. Proprietary In-Situ Bioconversion Process (ISBC™)

In our proprietary in-situ bioconversion process (ISBC) we inject low concentrations of safe nutrients into buried coalseams in a controlled manner. Our nutrient recipes are harmless to the environment, and have been widely used in agricultural practices.

Our technology rejuvenates, resumes, and enhances gas production, while extending the life of CBM fields with no environmental water displacement issues. Gas is collected from wells, dehydrated and sold, while water is recycled back through our continuous process that can be effective for decades.

2. Coal Biorefinery – Ex-Situ Biorefinery Process (ESBC™)

In contrast to our proprietary in-situ coal field process, our ex-situ coal biorefinery processing (ESBC) plant can be located near the point of natural gas usage. Our ex-situ process combines traditional methods of manipulating low-rank coals that are typically mined, with proprietary bioconversion technologies.

Our methods enhance conversion rates and gain high selectivity to specific products, including gas and chemicals. Coal is not burned and the process is fully contained. As a result, our technology represents a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional methods.

Environmental Benefits

Benefits to proprietary processes, include factors which result in less environmental impact than traditional methods. For example, we use existing pipelines where possible to transfer gas, our enhancers are harmless to the environment, we maintain water quality and reserves of groundwater while effectively stimulating natural gas production, we employ processes that do not emit pollutants and that do not generate particulate matter such as fly ash, and we recycle components.