Significance of the survival and performance of Bacillus species in porous media for enhanced oil recovery: Topical report
Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) technology has advanced to the stage in which several field tests have been performed, with others still in progress. The potential for microbial injection into petroleum reservoirs to cause environmental problems has not been determined. Ongoing research at NIPER has placed emphasis upon determining whether MEOR processes can be used safely and successfully in oilfields. Two microorganisms used frequently for MEOR field projects are Clostridium and Bacillus spp. This report presents data on several species of Bacillus and their characteristics in porous media, their compatibility with other microbial species, and their oil recovery efficiencies. Significant findings included the following: (1) Contaminating microorganisms from nutrients or the reservoir can interfere with Bacillus species. (2) Many Gram-negative bacteria overgrow Bacillus spp. after 1 week residence time in porous media. (3) Bacillus species can, because of their spore formation, survive in porous media for almost 7 months without additional nutrients. It was concluded that the compatibility of MEOR microorganisms to be injected and field microbial flora and fluids must be determined before field testing. Bacillus appears to behave more consistently in porous media and with other microorganisms than the Clostridium species investigated in last year's work. 3 refs., 1 fig., 6 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- National Inst. for Petroleum and Energy Research, Bartlesville, OK (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC22-83FE60149
- OSTI ID:
- 6790378
- Report Number(s):
- NIPER-179; ON: DE87001226
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
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59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
BACILLUS
BACTERIA
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CLOSTRIDIUM
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPATIBILITY
DATA
ENHANCED RECOVERY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GROWTH
INFORMATION
MATERIALS
MICROBIAL EOR
MICROORGANISMS
NUMERICAL DATA
OIL WELLS
PH VALUE
POROUS MATERIALS
RECOVERY
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
WELLS