BACKGROUND Biodegradation is a cheap and environmentally friendly process that could breakdown and utilizes heavy crude oil (HCO) resources. Numerous bacteria are able to grow using hydrocarbons as a carbon source; however, bacteria that are able to grow using HCO hydrocarbons are limited. In this study, HCO degrading bacteria were isolated from an Omani heavy crude oil field. They were then id...

In this paper, the potentials of using particles, especially nanoparticles, in enhanced oil recovery is investigated. The effect of different nanoparticles on wettability alteration, which is an important method to increase oil recovery from oil-wet reservoirs, is reviewed. The effect of different kinds of particles, namely solid inorganic particles, hydrophilic or hydrophobic nanoparticles, an...

chemical flooding, especially alkaline/surfactant/polymer flooding, is of increasing interest due to the world increasing oil demand. this work shows the aspects of using alkaline/surfactant/polymer as an enhanced oil recovery method in the porous media having a high dead-end pore frequency with various dead-end pore parameters (such as opening, depth, aspect ratio, and orientation). using glas...

The present work aims to investigate the effects of the addition of waste cooking oil (WCO) on heavy crude oil biodegradation and microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) using Pseudomonas sp. SWP-4. Growth kinetics show Pseudomonas sp. SWP-4 had a maximum dry cell weight of 1.73 g/L and cell-surface hydrophobicity of 62.4% against n-hexadecane when degraded the crude oil with the addition of WCO...

More than 2 y have passed since the BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, yet we still have little understanding of its ecological impacts. Examining effects of this oil spill will generate much-needed insight into how shoreline habitats and the valuable ecological services they provide (e.g., shoreline protection) are affected by and recover from large-scale disturbance. Here w...

The performance of petroleum recovery methods is dependent on the characteristics of the reservoir rock, oil quality, and formation water. One fundamental feature for considering petroleum recovery methods is the wettability of the rock reservoir. Also, this feature impacts the displacement of fluids in the rock reservior. In the case of the limestone, which normally features oil wettability, e...

In the present study, the potential of a bacterial consortium of Enterobacter cloacae and Pseudomonas sp. (ERCPPI-2) for microbial enhanced oil recovery was investigated. Various mechanisms of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) as a result of using ERCPPI-2 and its metabolic products were studied in detail. The obtained results showed that under simulated reservoir ...