Interplay of bacteria, bacteriophage, and Berea sandstone rock in relation to enhanced oil recovery

Book · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:5178710

Chang, P L

Much research and development is needed to recovery oil reserves presently unattainable, and biologically enhanced oil recovery is a technology that may be used for this purpose. To address the problem of bacterial contamination in an oil field injection well region, each end of a Teflon-sleeved Berea sandstone rock was connected to a flask containing nutrient medium. By inoculation one flask with Escherichia coli B, observations of the bacterial growth in the uninoculated flask resulting from the transport and establishment of cells across the rock could be made. Differences in bacterial populations occurred depending on whether bacteriophage T4D was first adsorbed to the rock. The results of these experiments indicate that the inhibition of bacterial establishment within a rock matrix is possible via lytic interaction. Some nonlytic effects are also implied by experiments with B/4 cells, which are T4D-resistant mutants of E. coli B. A 10 to 40% retention of T4 by the rock occurred when it was loaded with 10/sup 5/ to 10/sup 6/ PFU. Also proposed is a lysogenic system for possible use in biologically enhanced oil recovery techniques. In addition to the model bacteria and phage system described above, measurements of the passage of Pseudomonas putida. 12633 and a phage-resistant mutant through Berea sandstone rock were also made. When bacteriophage gh-1 was adsorbed within the rock matrix, a reduction in the passage of the susceptible but no the resistant cells through the rock was observed. The use of P. putida and gh-1 represents a more realistic group of experiments since these pseudomonas are ubiquitous soil bacteria commonly found in oil rock regions. Preliminary work on the degradation of certain nitrogen compounds in the context of biologically enhanced oil recovery is also described in this dissertation.

• Research Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5178710
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
BACTERIA
GROWTH
BACTERIOPHAGES
MICROBIAL EOR
CONTAMINATION
ADSORPTION
BIODEGRADATION
INHIBITION
INJECTION WELLS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM
POPULATION DYNAMICS
PSEUDOMONAS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SANDSTONES
SOILS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DECOMPOSITION
ENERGY SOURCES
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MICROORGANISMS
PARASITES
RECOVERY
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SORPTION
VIRUSES
WELLS
020300* - Petroleum- Drilling & Production
550700 - Microbiology