Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery Process

  MICROBIAL  ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PROCESS (MEOR)Detailed Documentation Appraisal Of: BY EZEANYA, CHINYERE CHARITY (BSc Hons)  Miss Ezeanya, Chinyere Charity  (2010) 2  Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) ABSTRACT Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) refers to the recovery of oil that is left behindafter primary and secondary recovery methods have either been exhaustedor no longer economicalSince 1946 more than 400 patents on MEOR have been issued, but none hasgained acceptance by the oil industry Most of the literature on MEOR isfrom laboratory experimentsPrimary recovery usually only accesses 30 to 35 per cent of the srcinal oilin place (OOIP)Secondary and tertiary recovery methods may net a further 15 to 25 per cent OOIP, leaving 30 to 55 per cent OOIP left behind as irrecoverable or irreducible oil in the reservoirMicrobial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) technology targets the remainingoil and aims at enabling production of 80 to 85 per cent of OOIPThere are different modes of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods Theseare: Chemical methods, Gas flooding, Microbial processes, Thermal processes, Novel methods and Computer simulationMicrobial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) method relies on microbes toferment hydrocarbons and produce a by-product that is useful in therecovery of oil MEOR functions by channeling oil through preferred pathways in the reservoir rock This is done by closing/plugging off smallchannels and forcing the oil to migrate through the larger pore spaces Whileit is clear that biocatalysis performed by microbes may promote beneficial 3