Experimental Determination of Protein Enzyme Bio-Surfactant Properties for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Abstract

The properties of Protein enzyme biosurfactant, a green-enzyme, water-based inert-enzyme generated from the DNA of microbes that eat oil was studied to ascertain its applicability in EOR processes. A light crude oil of 0.908 g/cc at 22°C density and 53.87 cp viscosity was used in this study with a kinematic viscosity which was variable between 90.654 mm2/s to 13.7544 mm2/s between temperatures of 22.5 °C to 70 °C with a measured surface tension of about 35 mN/m. The bio-surfactant yielded a CMC value of 0.02 wt.% which is comparable to reported CMC values of other surfactants. The least IFT value measured was 4.0 mN/m, which is very high for a very efficient and effective residual oil recovery (an ultralow IFT of about 0.01mN/m is required of which was achievable by Rhamnolipid a bio-surfactant studied alongside Protein Enzyme in this work). Ionic (0.083M to 3.0M) and temperature (23 to 70 °C) effects did not have much influence on the activities of bio-surfactant, thus quite stable within such conditions. The protein-enzyme has the ability to form a Winsor type III emulsion and stable over the period of time studied. Adsorption was noticed especially with higher bio-surfactant concentrations but tends to be stable over time.

Experimental and Numerical Evaluation of Enzyme-Assisted Hot Waterflooding Performance for Heavy Oil Reservoirs

“…On the basis of the aforementioned characteristics, enzymes are mainly applied to assist the implementation of two objectives, i.e., (1) transformation from an oil-wet reservoir to a water-wet reservoir (Rahayyem et al, 2019;Morgan et al, 2020b); and (2) diminution of the IFT between oil and brine (Nasiri, 2011;Liu and Zhang, 2011). Enzymes could have the capacity of decreasing the oil viscosity; however, it is still a controversial issue and further studies are needed (Nasiri, 2011;Khusainova, 2016).…”

“…Meanwhile, enzymes are capable of catalyzing the chemical reactions for life requirements. With the effect of enzymes, those previous reactions which can only chemically proceed under extreme conditions are now able to be performed under a relatively mild condition of pH and temperature (Harris and McKay, 1998;Morgan et al, 2020b). Also, enzymes have the advantages of high solubility in water without significant environmental issues.…”