Open AccessInstigation of indigenous thermophilic bacterial consortia for enhanced oil recovery from high temperature oil reservoirs
Author(s) -
Neha Sharma,
Meeta Lavania,
Vipin Kukreti,
Banwari Lal
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0229889
Subject(s) - microbial enhanced oil recovery , enhanced oil recovery , chemistry , thermophile , residual oil , food science , methanosaeta , microbial consortium , pulmonary surfactant , anaerobic digestion , methane , microorganism , microbiology and biotechnology , chromatography , biology , bacteria , biochemistry , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , genetics , engineering , enzyme
The purpose of the study involves the development of an anaerobic, thermophilic microbial consortium TERIK from the high temperature reservoir of Gujarat for enhance oil recovery. To isolate indigenous microbial consortia, anaerobic baltch media were prepared and inoculated with the formation water; incubated at 65°C for 10 days. Further, the microbial metabolites were analyzed by gas chromatography, FTIR and surface tension. The efficiency of isolated consortia towards enhancing oil recovery was analyzed through core flood assay. The novelty of studied consortia was that, it produces biomass (600 mg/l), bio-surfactant (325 mg/l), and volatile fatty acids (250 mg/l) at 65°C in the span of 10 days, that are adequate to alter the surface tension (70 to 34 mNm -1 ) and sweep efficiency of zones facilitating the displacement of oil. TERIK was identified as Clostridium sp. The FTIR spectra of biosurfactant indicate the presence of N-H stretch, amides and polysaccharide. A core flooding assay was designed to explore the potential of TERIK towards enhancing oil recovery. The results showed an effective reduction in permeability at residual oil saturation from 2.14 ± 0.1 to 1.39 ± 0.05 mD and 19% incremental oil recovery.