Microbially enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) often involves injection of aqueous molasses and nitrate to stimulate resident or introduced bacteria. Use of light oil components like toluene, as electron donor for nitrate-reducing bacteria (NRB), offers advantages but at 1-2 mM toluene is limiting in many heavy oils. Because addition of toluene to the oil increased reduction of nitrate by NRB, we propose an MEOR technology, in which water amended with light hydrocarbon below the solubility limit (5.6 mM for toluene) is injected to improve the nitrate reduction capacity of the oil along the water flow path, followed by injection of nitrate, other nutrients (e.g., phosphate) and a consortium of NRB, if necessary. Hydrocarbon- and nitrate-mediated MEOR was tested in low- and high-pressure, water-wet sandpack bioreactors with 0.5 pore volumes of residual oil in place (ROIP). Compared to control bioreactors, those with 11-12 mM of toluene in the oil (gained by direct addition or by aqueous injection) and 80 mM of nitrate in the aqueous phase produced 16.5 ± 4.4% of additional ROIP (N = 10). Because toluene is a cheap commodity chemical, HN-MEOR has the potential to be a cost-effective method for additional oil production even in the current low oil price environment.

The injection of nitrate is one of the most commonly used technologies to impact the sulfur cycle in subsurface oil fields. Nitrate injection enhances the activity of nitrate-reducing bacteria, which produce nitrite inhibiting sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB). Subsequent reduction of nitrate to di-nitrogen (N2) alleviates the inhibition of SRB by nitrite. It has been shown for the Medicine Hat Glauconitic C (MHGC) field, that alkylbenzenes especially toluene are important electron donors for the reduction of nitrate to nitrite and N2. However, the rate and extent of reduction of nitrate to nitrite and of nitrite to nitrogen have not been studied for multiple oil fields. Samples of light oil (PNG, CPM, and Tundra), light/heavy oil (Gryphon and Obigbo), and of heavy oil (MHGC) were collected from locations around the world. The maximum concentration of nitrate in the aqueous phase, which could be reduced in microcosms inoculated with MHGC produced water, increased with the toluene concentration in the oil phase. PNG, Gryphon, CPM, Obigbo, MHGC, and Tundra oils had 77, 17, 5.9, 4.0, 2.6, and 0.8 mM toluene, respectively. In incubations with 49 ml of aqueous phase and 1 ml of oil these were able to reduce 22.2, 12.3, 7.9, 4.6, 4.0, and 1.4 mM of nitrate, respectively. Nitrate reduced increased to 35 ± 4 mM upon amendment of all these oils with 570 mM toluene prior to incubation. Souring control by nitrate injection requires that the nitrate is directed toward oxidation of sulfide, not toluene. Hence, the success of nitrate injections will be inversely proportional to the toluene content of the oil. Oil composition is therefore an important determinant of the success of nitrate injection to control souring in a particular field.

Microbially enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) of heavy oil and bitumen is challenging because light hydrocarbons, which can feed resident microbial communities are present in low concentrations, if at all. We have recently shown that increasing the toluene concentration of heavy oil by aqueous injection followed by injection of nitrate boosts the activity of toluene-oxidizing nitrate-reducing bacteria in heavy oil-containing sand pack columns, giving production of residual oil in place (ROIP). In the current work we found that ethylbenzene is as effective as toluene. Microbial community analyses indicated Thauera and Pseudomonas to be main components of nitrate-containing batch and continuous cultures, regardless whether ethylbenzene or toluene was used as the electron donor. Biomass from batch cultures grown with heavy oil amended with ethylbenzene or toluene and nitrate or biomass from continuous cultures grown on ethylbenzene or toluene and nitrate had similar MEOR activity. Increasing the concentration of injected biomass from continuous cultures increased the fraction of ROIP recovered both in the absence and in the presence of nitrate. Nitrate increased the fraction of ROIP recovered by about 2-fold by increasing the concentration of biomass in the columns. Emulsification of oil by surface-adhering biomass and blocking of aqueous flow channels by oil emulsion droplets are proposed as a possible mechanism of hydrocarbon- and nitrate-mediated MEOR. Pure isolates Thauera sp. NS1 and Pseudomonas sp. NS2, which used both ethylbenzene and toluene, were obtained but did not offer improved MEOR compared to the use of batch and continuous cultures.

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Microbes in unconventional gas operations can conceivably contribute to (i) degradation of polymers in hydraulic fracturing fluid, (ii) well plugging, limiting gas flow and (iii) souring and corrosion due to activity of sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB). Flowback waters from a tight gas field in Northern British Columbia were distinct from the fresh water, used for making hydraulic fracturing fluid, by their high salinity, low pH and high ammonium concentrations. Microbial counts of SRB and of acid-producing bacteria (APB) for these flowback waters were significantly lower than for the fresh water used to make the hydraulic fracturing fluid. Determining microbial community compositions by sequencing the 16S rRNA genes in the samples did not indicate the presence of microbes preferring high salt or high temperature conditions in samples of flowback water. These data indicate that these tight gas formations are sterile and that the microbes that are being introduced with the hydraulic fracturing fluid do not thrive downhole. Hence, microbes downhole are unlikely to contribute to well plugging, limiting gas flow. Microbes at or near the surface may cause polymer degradation in hydraulic fracturing fluid, especially when guar gum is used in gel-based fracturing treatments, and may cause souring in the fresh water, used for making hydraulic fracturing fluid, if this contains a significant concentration of sulfate.

Denitrification is a microbial process that converts nitrate (NO3–) to N2 and can play an important role in industrial applications such as souring control and microbially enhanced oil recovery (MEOR). The effectiveness of using NO3– in souring control depends on the partial reduction of NO3– to nitrite (NO2–) and/or N2O while in MEOR complete reduction of NO3– to N2 is desired. Thauera has been reported as a dominant taxon in such applications, but the impact of NO3– and NO2– concentrations, and pH on the kinetics of denitrification by this bacterium is not known. With the goal of better understanding the effects of such parameters on applications such as souring and MEOR, three strains of Thauera (K172, NS1 and TK001) were used to study denitrification kinetics when using acetate as an electron donor. At low initial NO3– concentrations (∼1 mmol L–1) and at pH 7.5, complete NO3– reduction by all strains was indicated by non-detectable NO3– concentrations and near-complete recovery (> 97%) of the initial NO3-N as N2 after 14 days of incubation. The relative rate of denitrification by NS1 was low, 0.071 mmol L–1 d–1, compared to that of K172 (0.431 mmol L–1 d–1) and TK001 (0.429 mmol L–1 d–1). Transient accumulation of up to 0.74 mmol L–1 NO2– was observed in cultures of NS1 only. Increased initial NO3– concentrations resulted in the accumulation of elevated concentrations of NO2– and N2O, particularly in incubations with K172 and NS1. Strain TK001 had the most extensive NO3– reduction under high initial NO3– concentrations, but still had only ∼78% of the initial NO3-N recovered as N2 after 90 days of incubation. As denitrification proceeded, increased pH substantially reduced denitrification rates when values exceeded ∼ 9. The rate and extent of NO3– reduction were also affected by NO2– accumulation, particularly in incubations with K172, where up to more than a 2-fold rate decrease was observed. The decrease in rate was associated with decreased transcript abundances of denitrification genes (nirS and nosZ) required to produce enzymes for reduction of NO2– and N2O. Conversely, high pH also contributed to the delayed expression of these gene transcripts rather than their abundances in strains NS1 and TK001. Increased NO2– concentrations, N2O levels and high pH appeared to cause higher stress on NS1 than on K172 and TK001 for N2 production. Collectively, these results indicate that increased pH can alter the kinetics of denitrification by Thauera strains used in this study, suggesting that liming could be a way to achieve partial denitrification to promote NO2– and N2O production (e.g., for souring control) while pH buffering would be desirable for achieving complete denitrification to N2 (e.g., for gas-mediated MEOR).

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