Microbially Enhanced Oil

Recovery (MEOR)
OVERVIEW

● INTRODUCTION
● Why MEOR?
● MEOR Mechanism
● MEOR Mechanism
● Factors controlling the microbial growth, activities, metabolic
products-
● Microbial products and their application in MEOR
● Microbes involved in MEOR
● Advantages of MEOR
● Limitations
INTRODUCTION

Enhanced recovery-
● Enhanced recovery is a tertiary method of oil recovery
● It is a processes to recover an additional 7–15% of the original oil in place (OOIP)
which is accomplished by modification of the chemical and physical properties of
reservoir rocks and crude oil by the microbial growth and metabolites produced.

Microbially enhanced oil recovery (MEOR)-

● It is one of the Enhanced oil recovery approach where relevant microorganisms
are introduced or existing microorganisms are stimulated to enhance the
recovery of petroleum oil
● This process enhances the residual oil recovery up to 80%
WHY MEOR?

● Primary and secondary oil recovery processes can only recover up

to one third of the crude oil present in reservoirs
The main factors preventing the flow of residual oil to producing wells are
the-
● high viscosity of residual oil
● high interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and water

MOER is very much effective in reducing the viscosity of crude oil and
improving the flow properties of crude oil over all the tertiary crude oil
recovery process.
MEOR Mechanism-

MEOR processes involve:

A. Injection of indigenous or suitable
exogenous microorganisms (mainly
bacteria) together with nutrients into
the oil reservoir
B. Promotion of in situ microbial
growth
C. Production of microbial
fermentation compounds which
influence the physico-chemical
properties of crude oil and reservoir
conditions to benefit oil production
The MEOR process consists of two essential components:
hydrocarbon-consuming microorganisms and a
nutritional medium as the source of nitrogen and
phosphorus. Hydrocarbon-consuming microorganisms
can be exogenous or indigenous. Indigenous are isolated
for characterization from the hydrocarbon deposit where
they will be employed.

During the MEOR process, the components are mixed at

surface facilities and injected into the oil reservoir. Inside
the reservoir, MEOR-bacteria are transported by the
injected water and accumulate in porous zones at the
oil/rock and oil/water interfaces. Bacteria utilize very
small amounts of oil and produce metabolites such as
solvents, surfactants, acids, and carbon dioxide. These
bioproducts interact with the oil in the reservoir to
reduce the oil viscosity, interface tension at the oil/rock
and oil/water interfaces, improve rock permeability by
removing paraffin, mud, and other debris that plug the
porous media . Microbial cells are continuously
generated as well as the in-situ production of metabolites.
The prolong interaction of metabolites with the oil in the
reservoir, changes the oil properties in such a way that
immobile unrecoverable oil is converted into movable oil
that can flow to the production wells increasing oil output
accordingly.
Factors controlling the microbial growth, activities, metabolic
products-
Physicochemical
properties
(i) Pressure, porosity and permeability, temperature,
pH, dissolved solids, and salinity of the reservoir
(ii) Availability of nutrients to the bacteria
(iii) Specific type of microorganisms injected into the
reservoir EOR

MEOR is believed to be able to extract up to 50% of the Nutrients

residual oil left in a reservoir after primary and

secondary recovery processes have been exhausted MIcrobes
Microbial products and their application in MEOR-
Microbes involved in MEOR-
Bacteria and Archaea are commonly used as mixtures or
formulations with metabolic products (e.g., solvents, acids or
gases) to increase recovery and prolong the lifespan of the oil
wells.
● Clostridium, Zymomonas, and Klebsiella : solvents such as
acetone, butanol and propan-2-diol are produced by
bacteria of the genera
● Clostridium and Enterobacter; Methanobacterium:
Methane and hydrogen gas
● Fermentation gases can re-pressurize wells, leading to
displacement of light crude oil in the well and, thus,
facilitating its recovery
Advantages of MEOR-

● The injected bacteria, nutrients and/or other natural products can be produced
using inexpensive and easy-to-obtain raw substrates or even waste materials, and
they are not affected by crude oil price compared with conventional EOR
processes.
● It is an economically attractive alternative for use in mature oil fields prior to
their abandonment.
● No major alteration of the existing field facilities and infrastructure is required to
apply the process, making it cheaper and easier to implement than another EOR
method.
● Largely involves fully biodegradable products/additives and, hence, is considered
a more environmentally compatible process
● Microbial processes can be stimulated in situ within the reservoir, thus
minimizing or eliminating the need to accommodate large storage facilities
onsite/offshore.
● Microbial processes consume less energy than thermal EOR processes.
● The benefits of bacterial activity within the reservoir are amplified with time,

whereas the opposite is true for other EOR technologies.

● Largely involves fully biodegradable products/additives and, hence, is
considered a more environmentally compatible process.
● Microbial processes can be stimulated in situ within the reservoir, thus

minimizing or eliminating the need to accommodate large storage facilities

Limitations of MEOR-

● It is a complex process because the desired bacterial activities

depend on the physical and chemical characteristics of the reservoir.
● It is a slower process than chemical or thermal EOR, and usually
takes weeks or even months before any benefits are observed.
● MEOR is hard to control once implemented in the field, and its
success is difficult to predict due to high heterogeneity of reservoirs.
● The cultivation of microorganisms in the laboratory that can grow
and/or produce the desired metabolic products (e.g., biosurfactants)
under reservoir conditions has proven difficult.
REFERENCE:

• Wikipedia
• Swayam Environmental
Biotechnology course
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