The War against Problematic Biofilms in the Oil and Gas Industry

Gu, Dake Xu Tingyue

doi:10.4172/1948-5948.1000e124

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Biofilms can reduce efficiency and otherwise adversely impact the performance of various industrial operations ( 1 ). One example is the oil industry, which experiences considerable economic losses due to the impact of biofilm formation in pipelines, reservoirs, and other associated infrastructure ( 2 – 4 ). Of particular concern is oil reservoir souring, which is associated with H 2 S production by sulfate-reducing biofilms ( 4 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One example is the oil industry, which experiences considerable economic losses due to the impact of biofilm formation in pipelines, reservoirs, and other associated infrastructure ( 2 – 4 ). Of particular concern is oil reservoir souring, which is associated with H 2 S production by sulfate-reducing biofilms ( 4 ). Souring is a common occurrence during secondary oil recovery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detection of Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria as an Indicator for Successful Mitigation of Sulfide Production

Dutta

Valle²,

Goldman³

et al. 2021

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are one of the main sources of biogenic H 2 S generation in oil reservoirs. Excess H 2 S production in these systems leads to oil biosouring, which causes operational risks, health hazards and can increase the cost of refining crude oil. Nitrate salts are often added to the system to suppress sulfidogenesis. Because SRB populations can persist in biofilms even after nitrate treatment, identifying shifts in the sessile community is crucial for successful mitigation. However, sampling the sessile community is hampered by its inaccessibility. Here we use the results of a long-term (148 days) ex situ experiment to identify particular sessile community members from observations of the sample waste stream. Microbial community structure was determined for 731 samples across twenty bioreactors using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. By associating microbial community structure with specific steps in the mitigation process, we could distinguish between taxa associated with H 2 S production and mitigation. After initiation of nitrate treatment, certain SRB populations increased in the planktonic community during critical time points, indicating the dissociation of SRBs from the biofilm. Predicted relative abundances of the dissimilatory sulfate reduction pathway also increased during the critical time points. Here, by analyzing the planktonic community structure, we describe a general method that uses high-throughput amplicon sequencing, metabolic inferences, and cell abundance data to identify successful biofilm mitigation. We anticipate that our approach is also applicable to other systems where biofilms must be mitigated but cannot be easily sampled. Importance Microbial biofilms are commonly present in many industrial processes and can negatively impact performance and safety. Within the oil industry, subterranean biofilms cause biosouring with implications for oil quality, cost, occupational health, and the environment. Because these biofilms cannot be directly sampled, methods are needed to indirectly assess the success of mitigation measures. This study demonstrates how the planktonic microbial community can be used to assess the dissociation of SRB-containing biofilms. We found that an increase in the abundance of a specific SRB population in the effluent after nitrate treatment can be used as a potential indicator for the successful mitigation of biofilm-forming SRBs. Moreover, a method for determining critical time points for detecting potential indicators is suggested. This study expands our knowledge in improving mitigation strategies for biosouring and could have broader implications in other systems where biofilms lead to adverse consequences.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria as an Indicator for Successful Mitigation of Sulfide Production

Dutta

Valle²,

Goldman³

et al. 2021

Appl Environ Microbiol

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“…Seawater brings nutrients (e.g., organic carbons) and oxidants (e.g., sulfate). It also brings various microbes including sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2019

AJET

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In the oil and gas industry, pipeline is the major transportation medium to deliver the products. According to [1] containment of pipeline loss to indicate that corrosion has been found to be the most predominant cause for failures of buried metal pipes. MIC has been identified as one of the major causes of underground pipeline corrosion failure and Sulphate Reducing Bacteria (SRB) are the main reason causing MIC, by accelerating corrosion rate. The objectives of this study is to study the SRB growth, Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC 7757 due to pH and determine the optimum value controlling the bacteria growth on the internal pipe of carbon steel grade API X70. The result shows that the optimum SRB growth is at range pH 5-5 to 6.5 and the exposure time of 7 to 14 days. At pH 6.5 the maximum corrosion rate is 1.056 mm/year. Corrosion phenomena on carbon steel in the study proven had influence by pH and time. From this result pitting corrosion strongly attack at carbon steel pipe. In the future project, it is recommended to study the effect of different pipe location for example the pipeline under seawater.

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“…Pseudomonas aeruginosa, for example, can enter the blood circulation [7] through open wounds to infect organs of the urinary and respiratory systems. In a different context, biofilm cause billions of dollars in damage to metal pipes in the oil and gas industry [8,9]. Sulfate-reducing bacteria [10], for example, transform molecular hydrogen into hydrogen sulfide which, in turn, * massimo@ntu.edu.sg produces sulfuric acid that destroys metal surfaces causing catastrophic failures.…”

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confidence: 99%

In-silico modeling of early-stage biofilm formation

et al. 2021

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Several bacteria and bacteria strands form biofilms in different environmental conditions, e.g. pH, temperature, nutrients, etc. Biofilm growth, therefore, is an extremely robust process. Because of this, while biofilm growth is a complex process affected by several variables, insights into biofilm formation could be obtained studying simple schematic models. In this manuscript, we describe a hybrid molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo model for the simulation of the early stage formation of a biofilm, to explicitly demonstrate that it is possible to account for most of the processes expected to be relevant. The simulations account for the growth and reproduction of the bacteria, for their interaction and motility, for the synthesis of extracellular polymeric substances and Psl trails. We describe the effect of these processes on the early stage formation of biofilms, in two dimensions, and also discuss preliminary three-dimensional results.

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The War against Problematic Biofilms in the Oil and Gas Industry

Cited by 8 publications

References 15 publications

Detection of Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria as an Indicator for Successful Mitigation of Sulfide Production

Detection of Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria as an Indicator for Successful Mitigation of Sulfide Production

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In-silico modeling of early-stage biofilm formation

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