The role of sulphate-reducing bacteria in oil recovery

Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are a group of microbes that use sulfate (SO4 ) as a final electron acceptor instead of oxygen for respiration (Al-Zuhair, El-Naas et al. 2008). SRB are able to use a very wide spectrum of different low molecular organic compounds (e.g. lactate, acetate, proprionate, succinate, pyruvate, ethanol, sugars, etc.) for growth, with SO4 being reduced to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) (Benaroudj, Lee et al. 2001; AlZuhair, El-Naas et al. 2008; Brioukhanov, Pieulle et al. 2010; Sherry, Gray et al. 2013). SRB is known as harmful bacteria in the productive process of oilfields. They might cause serious problems in oilfield water systems, including corrosion of iron in anaerobic conditions and reduction of the injectivity of water injection wells by precipitation of amorphous ferrous sulfide (Castro, M. et al. 1997).