Laboratory Research on Air-assisting Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery

The air-assisting microbial enhanced oil recovery is a new technology of tertiary recovery, which microbe can grow and metabolize better by help of oxygen. Experiments of microbe growing and oxygen consuming as well as oil-removing were performed under the different dissolved oxygen. Experiments showed that the time of microbial proliferation arriving the period of logarithmic phase was reduced in the oxygenated environment relative to the oxygen-deprived environments. The content of light hydrocarbons of biodegraded oil increased more than 5% in the oxygenated environment. What is more, the microbial de-oiling efficiency was obtained more than 80% after having added dissolved oxygen. Based on laboratory data, it is believed that the air-assisting microbial enhanced oil recovery is a promising new front of oil-displacement.