Elliott Barnhart
Biography
Dr. Elliott Barnhart is a research hydrologist (microbiologist) at the Wyoming Montana Water Science Center in Helena, Montana. His research focuses on using new DNA technology to better understand ecological processes, promote energy development and examine environmental issues. His research specifically focuses on (1) understanding how microorganisms turn coal to natural gas underground, (2) developing and testing new DNA sampling and analytical equipment, and (3) investigating the prevalence of microorganisms, pathogens and invasive species in different ecosystems.
Science and Products
Using Robots in the River: Biosurveillance at USGS streamgages
For more than a decade, researchers around the world have shown that sampling a water body and analyzing for eDNA is an effective method to detect an organism in the water. The challenge is that finding organisms that are not very abundant requires a lot of samples to locate this needle in a haystack. Enter the "lab in a can", the water quality sampling and processing robot.
Microbial Methanogenesis and Strategies for Enhancements
Microbial (biogenic) natural gas is present in shale, coal and petroleum reservoirs and is estimated to account for 20% of the world’s natural gas resources. We provide hydrological, geochemical and microbial information related to the production of biogenic natural gas and new methods to monitor and enhance the production of this energy resource. Generating microbial methane at a faster rate...
Biogenic coal-to-methane conversion can be enhanced with small additions of algal amendment in field-relevant upflow column reactors
ubsurface coal environments, where biogenic coal-to-methane conversion occurs, are difficult to access, resulting in inherent challenges and expenses for in situexperiments. Previous batch reactor studies provided insights into specific processes, pathways, kinetics, and engineering strategies, but field-relevance is restricted due to limited...
Davis, Katherine J.; Platt, George A.; Barnhart, Elliott; Hiebart, Randy; Hyatt, Robert; Fields, Matthew W.; Gerlach, Robin Changes in microbial communities and associated water and gas geochemistry across a sulfate gradient in coal beds: Powder River Basin, USA
Competition between microbial sulfate reduction and methanogenesis drives cycling of fossil carbon and generation of CH4 in sedimentary basins. However, little is understood about the fundamental relationship between subsurface aqueous geochemistry and microbiology that drives these processes. Here...
Schweitzer, Hannah; Ritter, Daniel; McIntosh, Jennifer; Barnhart, Elliott; Cunningham, Alfred B.; Vinson, David; Orem, William H.; Fields, Matthew W. Biogenic coal-to-methane conversion efficiency decreases after repeated organic amendment
Addition of organic amendments to coal-containing systems can increase the rate and extent of biogenic methane production for 60–80 days before production slows or stops. Understanding the effect of repeated amendment additions on the rate and extent of enhanced coal-dependent methane production is important if biological coal-to-methane...
Davis, Katherine J.; Barnhart, Elliott P.; Fields, Matthew W.; Gerlach, Robin Type and amount of organic amendments affect enhanced biogenic methane production from coal and microbial community structure
Slow rates of coal-to-methane conversion limit biogenic methane production from coalbeds. This study demonstrates that rates of coal-to-methane conversion can be increased by the addition of small amounts of organic amendments. Algae, cyanobacteria, yeast cells, and granulated yeast extract were tested at two concentrations (0.1 and 0.5 g/L...
Davis, Katherine J.; Lu, Shipeng; Barnhart, Elliott P.; Parker, Albert E.; Fields, Matthew W.; Gerlach, Robin Enhanced coal-dependent methanogenesis coupled with algal biofuels: Potential water recycle and carbon capture
Many coal beds contain microbial communities that can convert coal to natural gas (coalbed methane). Native microorganisms were obtained from Powder River Basin (PRB) coal seams with a diffusive microbial sampler placed downhole and used as an inoculum for enrichments with different nutrients to investigate microbially-enhanced coalbed methane...
Barnhart, Elliott P.; Davis, Katherine J.; Varonka, Matthew S.; Orem, William H.; Cunningham, Alfred B.; Ramsay, Bradley D.; Fields, Matthew W. Cultivation of a native alga for biomass and biofuel accumulation in coal bed methane production water
Coal bed methane (CBM) production has resulted in thousands of ponds in the Powder River Basin of low-quality water in a water-challenged region. A green alga isolate, PW95, was isolated from a CBM production pond, and analysis of a partial ribosomal gene sequence indicated the isolate belongs to the Chlorococcaceae family. Different combinations...
Hodgskiss, Logan H.; Nagy, Justin; Barnhart, Elliott P.; Cunningham, Alfred B.; Fields, Matthew W. Hydrogeochemistry and coal-associated bacterial populations from a methanogenic coal bed
Biogenic coalbed methane (CBM), a microbially-generated source of natural gas trapped within coal beds, is an important energy resource in many countries. Specific bacterial populations and enzymes involved in coal degradation, the potential rate-limiting step of CBM formation, are relatively unknown. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has...
Barnhart, Elliott P.; Weeks, Edwin P.; Jones, Elizabeth J.P.; Ritter, Daniel J.; McIntosh, Jennifer C.; Clark, Arthur C.; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Cunningham, Alfred B.; Vinson, David S.; Orem, William H.; Fields, Matthew W. Enhanced microbial coalbed methane generation: A review of research, commercial activity, and remaining challenges
Coalbed methane (CBM) makes up a significant portion of the world’s natural gas resources. The discovery that approximately 20% of natural gas is microbial in origin has led to interest in microbially enhanced CBM (MECoM), which involves stimulating microorganisms to produce additional CBM from existing production wells. This paper reviews current...
Ritter, Daniel J.; Vinson, David S.; Barnhart, Elliott P.; Akob, Denise M.; Fields, Matthew W.; Cunningham, Al B.; Orem, William H.; McIntosh, Jennifer C.
Water-quality trends for selected sites in the Boulder River and Tenmile Creek watersheds, Montana, based on data collected during water years 1997-2013
In the Boulder River and Tenmile Creek watersheds in southwestern Montana, there was intensive mining during a 40-year period after the discovery of gold in the early 1860s. Potential effects from the historic mining activities include acid-mine drainage and elevated concentrations of potentially toxic trace elements from mining remnants such as...
Sando, Steven K.; Clark, Melanie L.; Cleasby, Thomas E.; Barnhart, Elliott P. Potential role of acetyl-CoA synthetase (acs) and malate dehydrogenase (mae) in the evolution of the acetate switch in Bacteria and Archaea
Although many Archaea have AMP-Acs (acetyl-coenzyme A synthetase) and ADP-Acs, the extant methanogenic genus Methanosarcina is the only identified Archaeal genus that can utilize acetate via acetate kinase (Ack) and phosphotransacetylase (Pta). Despite the importance of ack as the potential urkinase in the ASKHA phosphotransferase superfamily, an...
Barnhart, Elliott P.; McClure, Marcella A.; Johnson, Kiki; Cleveland, Sean; Hunt, Kristopher A.; Fields, Matthew W.
Water-quality trends for selected sampling sites in the upper Clark Fork Basin, Montana, water years 1996-2010
A large-scale trend analysis was done on specific conductance, selected trace elements (arsenic, cadmium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, and zinc), and suspended-sediment data for 22 sites in the upper Clark Fork Basin for water years 1996–2010. Trend analysis was conducted by using two parametric methods: a time-series model (TSM) and multiple...
Sando, Steven K.; Vecchia, Aldo V.; Lorenz, David L.; Barnhart, Elliott P.
Trends in major-ion constituents and properties for selected sampling sites in the Tongue and Powder River watersheds, Montana and Wyoming, based on data collected during water years 1980-2010
The primary purpose of this report is to present information relating to flow-adjusted temporal trends in major-ion constituents and properties for 16 sampling sites in the Tongue and Powder River watersheds based on data collected during 1980–2010. In association with this primary purpose, the report presents background information on major-ion...
Sando, Steven K.; Vecchia, Aldo V.; Barnhart, Elliott P.; Sando, Thomas R.; Clark, Melanie L.; Lorenz, David L.