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Exploiting Microbes in the Petroleum Field: Analyzing the Credibility of Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR)
- Source :
- Energies, Vol 14, Iss 4684, p 4684 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Crude oil is a major energy source that is exploited globally to achieve economic growth. To meet the growing demands for oil, in an environment of stringent environmental regulations and economic and technical pressure, industries have been required to develop novel oil salvaging techniques. The remaining ~70% of the world’s conventional oil (one-third of the available total petroleum) is trapped in depleted and marginal reservoirs, and could thus be potentially recovered and used. The only means of extracting this oil is via microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR). This tertiary oil recovery method employs indigenous microorganisms and their metabolic products to enhance oil mobilization. Although a significant amount of research has been undertaken on MEOR, the absence of convincing evidence has contributed to the petroleum industry’s low interest, as evidenced by the issuance of 400+ patents on MEOR that have not been accepted by this sector. The majority of the world’s MEOR field trials are briefly described in this review. However, the presented research fails to provide valid verification that the microbial system has the potential to address the identified constraints. Rather than promising certainty, MEOR will persist as an unverified concept unless further research and investigations are carried out.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Technology
microbial metabolic by-products
Microbial metabolic by-products
Petroleum biotechnology
Materialkemi
Microbial system
010501 environmental sciences
01 natural sciences
biosurfactants
chemistry.chemical_compound
Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR)
Numerical simulation and modelling
Kemiska processer
Credibility
Materials Chemistry
Reservoir dynamics
microbial metabolic pathways
microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR)
petroleum biotechnology
Crude oil
Microbial enhanced oil recovery
Petroleum
Indigenous microorganisms
Energy source
Control and Optimization
Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap
Energy Engineering and Power Technology
03 medical and health sciences
Microbial metabolic pathways
Species properties
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
crude oil
Engineering (miscellaneous)
Field trials
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
business.industry
030104 developmental biology
Petroleum industry
chemistry
Biosurfactants
Chemical Process Engineering
Environmental science
Biochemical engineering
business
Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
Energy (miscellaneous)
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19961073
- Volume :
- 14
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Energies
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....fa8c0cb574d4ff0d7e5972f9975f5aa5
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/en14154684