Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery

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MICROBIAL ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY Presented by Er. Vivek Shrivastaw Roll No -1151109 M.Tech 1 st year Chemical Engineering

description

There is a need to produce crude oil to overcome the worldwide rising energy demand for that we are following Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)process.These method try to overcome the efficient of oil recovery such as low permeability of some reservoirs, the high viscosity of the crude oil, and high oil-water interfacial tensions that may result in high capillary forces retaining the oil in the reservoir rock.

Transcript of Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery

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MICROBIAL ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY

Presented by

Er. Vivek Shrivastaw Roll No -1151109 M.Tech 1st year Chemical Engineering

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LIST OF CONTENT

Introduction History of MEOR Oil Recovery Mechanism MEOR Mechanism Advantages of MEOR Problems of MEOR Environmental Constrains Conclusion References

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INTRODUCTION

Nowadays the majority of the world’s energy comes from the crude oil.

A large production of this valuable and non-renewable resource comes from the ground after application of conventional oil extraction method.

There is a need to produce crude oil to overcome the worldwide rising energy demand for that we are following Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)process.

These method try to overcome the efficient of oil recovery such as low permeability of some reservoirs, the high viscosity of the crude oil, and high oil-water interfacial tensions that may result in high capillary forces retaining the oil in the reservoir rock.

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-cont.

Microbial Enhanced Oil recovery (MEOR) is one of the EOR techniques where the bacterial and their by-products are utilized for oil mobilization in a reservoir.

MEOR is a process that increase the oil recovery through the inoculation of microorganisms in a reservoir.

In this Bacteria and their by-products cause some beneficial effects such a formation of stable oil-water emulsion, reducing the interfacial tension etc.

Microbial technologies are becoming accepted worldwide as cost-effective , improve oil production.

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HISTORY OF MEOR

MEOR was first described by Beckman in 1926.Few studies were conducted on this topic between 1926 - 1940.

In 1947, ZoBell initiated a new type of investigation in the petroleum microbiology with application of oil recovery.

He explained that the major MEOR mechanism which are responsible for oil release from porous media, involve processes such as dissolution of inorganic carbonates by bacterial metabolites, production of bacterial gases, which reduce the oil viscosity supporting its flow.

The application of MEOR as a tertiary recovery technique and a natural step to decrease residual oil saturation.

Biotechnology research has improved, which has influenced the oil industry to be more open to the evaluation of microorganisms to enhance oil production.

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OIL RECOVERY PRODUCTION

Primary Production: • Primary oil recovery refers to the process of extracting of oil either via the natural rise of hydrocarbons to the surface of the earth or via pump jacks and other artificial devices.•This technique only targets the oil, which is either susceptible to its release or accessible to the pump jack.•It is very limited in its extraction potential.•In this level extraction of oil around 10%-30% recovered.

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• Secondary Production:• This method involves the injection of gas or water, which will

displace the oil, force it to move from its resting place and bring it to the surface.

• It is typically successful in targeting an additional 30% of the oil’s reserves, through this it could be more or less depending on the oil and rock surrounding it.

• Enhanced Oil Recovery: • Rather than simply trying to force the oil out of the ground, as

did the previous two methods, EOR method is to make it more conducive to extraction.

• These are mainly three types like Thermal Recovery, Gas Injection, Chemical Injection.

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Thermal Processes: The thermal process is mostly used for recovery of heavy or viscous oils is to supply the reservoir with heat energy in order to increase the oil temperature and reduce its viscosity and increasing the mobility of the oil towards production wells.

Thermal processes can be conducted by two different methods; steam flooding and in-situ combustion. Steam flooding is the mostly widely used EOR method and probably the most profitable from an economic standpoint.

In the in-situ combustion method which is theoretically more efficient than steam flood.

Due to the complex operational problems of this method, it is not widely applied.

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• Chemical Methods: These method’s are not profitable, In this process chemicals such as surfactants , alkaline solutions, and polymers are displacing water in order to change the physicochemical properties of the water and the contacted oil making the process more effective.

• Miscible Displacement Processes: In this method is to reduce the interfacial tension between the displacing and displaced fluids to near that leads to the total miscibility of the solvent(gas) and oil, forming single homogeneous moving phase.

• This displacing fluid could be carbon dioxide, nitrogen, exhaust gases, hydrocarbon solvents, or even certain alcohols.

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• Microbial processes(MEOR): Another tertiary of oil recovery is microbial enhanced oil recovery, commonly known as MEOR, which is an important and rapidly developed tertiary production technology.

• In this microorganisms or their metabolites to enhance the recovery of residual oil. In this method, nutrients and suitable bacteria, which can grow under the anaerobic reservoir conditions, are injected in to the reservoir.

• In MEOR process, different kinds of nutrients are injected to the reservoirs.

• The bacteria are usually hydrocarbon-utilizing , and that are naturally occurring in the petroleum reservoirs.

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MEOR MECHANISMS

• Improvement of oil recovery through microbial action can be performed through several mechanisms such as reduction of oil-water interfacial tension and wettability by surfactant production and bacterial presence.

• Bio surfactant : Chemical surfactants are hazardous and costly compounds which are not degradable and can be toxic to the environment.

• Bio surfactants are high value products that due to their superior characteristics , such as low toxicity, ease of application, temperature and salinity , are efficient alternatives to the petroleum industry.

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Microorganism, their metabolites and application in MEOR

Microbial Products Example microbes Application in MEOR

Biomass Biomass Bacillus, Xanthomonas

Selective plugging and wettability alteration

Surfactants Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter

Emulsification and de-emulsification through reduction of IFT

Polymers Bacillus, Leuconostoc Injective profile and viscosity modification, selective plugging

Solvents Clostridium, Zymomonas Rock dissolution for better permeability, oil viscosity reduction

Acids Clostridium, Mixed acidogens

Permeability increase, emulsification

Gases Clostridium, Enterobacter Methanobacterium

Increased pressure, oil swilling, IFT and viscosity reduction

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MEOR ADVANTAGES

The major advantages of MEOR over other EOR technologies .• Injected microbes and nutrients are cheap; easy to handle in the field and independent of oil prices.• Increases oil production.•Less expansive set up, low energy input required for microbes to produce MEOR agents.•More efficient than other EOR methods when applied to carbonate oil reservoirs.•Microbial activity increases with microbial growth.•MEOR products are all bio degradable and will not be accumulated in the environment.

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PROBLEMS OF MEOR

The oxygen deployed in aerobic MEOR can act as corrosive agent on down-hole piping

Exogenous microbes require facilities for their cultivation.

Dispersion or transportation of all necessary components to the target zone.

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ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTRAINTS

• Temperature: The cellular growth will depends on the Temperatures in the range of (<25°C) for psychrophilic,(25-45°C)for mesophiles, (45-60°C)for thermophiles,(60-121°C)for hyper thermophiles.

• Pressure: The microbes was enhanced by increasing pressure.

• pH: The acidity of alkalinity has an impact over several aspects in living and non living system like surface charge and enzymatic activity.

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CONCLUSION

• MEOR is a cost effective and co-friendly process that shows several advantages over other EOR processes.

• MEOR is well proven technology to enhance oil recovery from oil wells with high water cuts and also improve it in mature oil wells.

• It is recommended to conduct toxicity tests on the microbes that are to be used in the field to assure that it is safe to handle and pose no threat to human or to the environment.

• Efficiency of recovery is high.• MEOR process to be well accepted and successful, extensive

laboratory tests are required for implementation, to select the suitable microbes, to understand the growth requirements and production conditions.

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REFERECES

• Bacteria for improvement of oil recovery by K.BEHLULGIL

• Enhanced oil recovery –An overview by S.Thomas

• Uses of microbes in Petroleum Recovery technology by Rebecca Bryant

• http://www.rmotic.com/pdfs/97pt25.pdfs

• Recovery of Oil Reservoirs. U.S patent No. 5.083.610

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THANK YOU