The European project Micro4Biogas, coordinated by the University of Valencia, aims to boost the biogas sector in Europe to support the transition to renewable energies. Now, it has produced the podcast Fuelled by Microbes, in which experts, including Manel Porcar, researcher at the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), a joint centre of the University of Valencia and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), analyse the pros, cons and expectations of biogas on the road to more sustainable energies.

Fuelled by Microbes consists of 6 episodes, plus another one in the pipeline, and is available on the main audio platforms, including Spotify, iVoox, Podimo, among others. The latest contribution features Adriel Latorre, head of the Genomics Department at Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence; Manel Porcar, scientific director of Micro4Biogas; and Pacual Otto, researcher at the Institute for Waste Management and Circular Economy at the Dresden University of Technology.

The Micro4Biogas project started in 2021 and will run until May 2025. It has funding of 5.7 million euros and research staff from six countries. Among others, a new taxonomic order of bacteria specialised in the decomposition of organic matter has been discovered and characterised, which could be key to improving biogas production.