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Use of Biosurfactants in Oil Recovery

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Consequences of Microbial Interactions with Hydrocarbons, Oils, and Lipids: Production of Fuels and Chemicals

Part of the book series: Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology ((HHLM))

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Abstract

Biosurfactant-mediated oil recovery has the potential to recover large amounts of crude oil that remain entrapped in oil reservoirs after current oil recovery technologies reach their economic limit. Lipopeptides (surfactins and lichenysins), rhamnolipids, and other glycolipids generate the low interfacial tensions and the appropriate rock wettabilities needed to mobilize entrapped oil. Biosurfactants are active over a wide range of temperatures, pH values, and salinities found in many oil reservoirs and are effective at low concentrations. A number of laboratory experiments show that biosurfactant-mediated oil recovery is effective in recovering large amounts of entrapped oil. Several field trials show that in situ biosurfactant production is possible and recovers additional oil. Biosurfactant-mediated oil recovery has been difficult to scale-up to a reservoir-wide technology due to the lack of understanding of how best to stimulate biosurfactant production in the reservoir. In addition, the relationship between biosurfactant concentration and oil recovery is still unclear. Ex-situ biosurfactant-mediated oil recovery where the biosurfactant is added to the injection fluids has not been implemented on a large scale, most likely due to the high production costs of biosurfactants. Multidisciplinary approaches are needed to move biosurfactant-mediated oil recovery from the laboratory to the reservoir.

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Acknowledgments

MJM was supported by contract DE-FG02-96ER20214 from Physical Biosciences Division, Office of Science, U. S. Department of Energy. GL was supported by a scholarship from China Scholarship Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Nankai University, 94 Weijin Road, Tianjin, 3000071, China

    Guoqiang Li

  2. Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, University of Oklahoma, 770 Van Vleet Oval, Norman, OK, USA

    Michael J. McInerney

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  1. Guoqiang Li
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  2. Michael J. McInerney
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Correspondence to Michael J. McInerney .

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  1. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Korea (Republic of)

    Sang Yup Lee

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Li, G., McInerney, M.J. (2017). Use of Biosurfactants in Oil Recovery. In: Lee, S. (eds) Consequences of Microbial Interactions with Hydrocarbons, Oils, and Lipids: Production of Fuels and Chemicals. Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50436-0_364

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