Patent Application
20210054258
This application claims the benefit of priority from Chinese Patent Application No. 201910782140.1, filed on Aug. 23, 2019. The content of the aforementioned application, including any intervening amendments thereto, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
This disclosure relates to biological technology, and more particularly to a method of microbial enhanced oil recovery by changing microbial motility.
Many oilfields in the later stage of production produces fluids with high water content, and the recoverable underground reserves has been shrinking. Moreover, the high water-cut reservoirs, oil-water transition zones and heavy oil reservoirs have exceeded the conventional crude oil in reserves. Considering the obvious deterioration in the quality of the crude oil and the difficulties in the exploitation, it is urgently required to develop a novel oil recovery method.
Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) has received worldwide attention due to the advantages of wide application, simple operation, low cost, long acting time and green process. In the MEOR, the microorganisms, based on their biodegrading properties and metabolites, play a significant role in lowering the viscosity and freezing point of crude oil to further improve the fluidity, enhancing the production and recovery of crude oil. Therefore, a desired target microorganism used in the MEOR is required to have rapid proliferation, good motility, high resistance to stress and excellent degradation ability.
However, many species of microorganisms employed in the MEOR are lack of motility, so they fail to migrate freely to fully contact with crude oil in the reservoir, failing to effectively enhance the oil recovery. Surface motility refers to the ability of a microorganism to migrate on a solid surface. A good surface motility enables the microorganisms to migrate along the rock surface into an operation blind area where it is difficult to enter through other oil recovery techniques, so it is conducive to the enlargement of oil displacement range and the enhancement of the crude oil recovery, improving the recovery rate of crude oil.
In order to change the motility of microorganisms for oil recovery to further improve the microbial enhanced oil recovery and promote the recovery rate of crude oil, this application provides a method of microbial enhanced oil recovery by changing microbial motility.
The technical solutions of this application are specifically described as follows.
In a first aspect, this application provides a method of changing a motility of an alkane-degrading Dietzia strain, comprising:
subjecting a viable Glycocaulis strain and the alkane-degrading Dietzia strain to contact culture to enable the alkane-degrading Dietzia strain to have motility.
In an embodiment, the change of the motility of the alkane-degrading Dietzia strain is to improve the surface motility of the alkane-degrading Dietzia strain.
In an embodiment, the viable Glycocaulis strain is viable Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8; and the alkane-degrading Dietzia strain is Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b.
In a second aspect, this application provides a microbial enhanced oil recovery method, comprising:
subjecting a viable Glycocaulis strain and the alkane-degrading Dietzia strain to contact culture to enable the alkane-degrading Dietzia strain to have motility; and
injecting the contact culture mixture of the viable Glycocaulis strain and the alkane-degrading Dietzia strain to an oil well to perform microbial enhanced oil recovery.
In an embodiment, the viable Glycocaulis strain is viable Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8; and the alkane-degrading Dietzia strain is Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b.
In a third aspect, this application provides a composition for microbial enhanced oil recovery, comprising:
alkane-degrading Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b;
Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8; and
a culture medium for contact culture of Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b and Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8.
In an embodiment, the enhancement of the microbial oil recovery is to improve the recovery rate of the microbial oil recovery.
Compared to the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects.
The surface motility of the alkane-degrading Dietzia strain can be improved by contact co-culture with the viable Glycocaulis strain, thus improving the microbial enhanced oil recovery.
Unless otherwise specified, the experimental methods employed in the following embodiments are conventional methods.
Unless otherwise specified, the materials and reagents used in the following embodiments are all commercially available.
Alkane-degrading Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b and Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 isolated from Daqing oilfield were selected herein as research objects, where Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b had been specifically described in “Detection of Metabolites from n-Hexadecane Degradation by Strain Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b”, and Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 had been recorded in “Glycocaulis alkaliphilus sp. nov., a dimorphic prosthecate bacterium isolated from crude oil” (abbreviated as 6B-8).
1. Investigation on Motility of Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b and Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8
1.1 Preparation of Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b and Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 Suspensions
(1) Preparation of Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b Suspension
The strain Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b was transferred from a glycerol tube to a plate for activation, and the monoclonal cells were picked and transferred to a test tube containing liquid medium for culture. Then the bacterial suspension in the test tube was transferred to a 500 mL Erlenmeyer flask containing 300 mL of glucose-peptone-yeast extract (GPY) medium and cultured to obtain a seed solution, where the GPY medium (1 L) consisted of 10 g of peptone, 5 g of yeast extract, 10 g of glucose and water, and was adjusted to pH 8.0.
After cultured to the logarithmic growth phase, the seed solution was centrifuged at 5,000 rpm and 4° C. for 10 min, and the cells were collected, washed twice with a MF medium and suspended with the MF medium to a density of 1×107 cells/mL to produce the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b suspension, where the MF medium (1 L) consisted of 17.9 g of Na2HPO4.12H2O, 7.8 g of NaH2PO4, 5 g of (NH4)2SO4, 5 g of KCl, 10 mL of a microelement solution SL-4 (A304-01, Shanghai Linyuan Biotechnology Co., Ltd), 1 mL of sterile 5% CaCl2) solution, 1 mL of sterile MgSO4 solution and water, and was adjusted to pH 8.0.
Glucose-peptone-yeast extract (GPY) medium (1 L) was prepared from 10 g of peptone, 5 g of yeast extract, 10 g of glucose and water, and was adjusted to pH 8.0.
(2) Preparation of Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 Suspension
The Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 suspension with a density of 1×107 cells/mL was prepared according to the above preparation of the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b suspension.
1.2 Investigation of Bacterial Motility
Due to the failure in utilizing alkane and glucose as carbon sources to grow, Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 was culture in a LB medium.
Three groups of experiments were designed.
Group 1 Measurement of Surface Motility of Single Strain
A drop of the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b suspension was spotted on a MF plate containing 0.5% agar with 0.5% hexadecane as the sole carbon source, and the surface motility was measured 24 h later, where a cover of the plate was added with a filter paper adsorbing 0.5% of hexadecane (the size of the filter paper was the same as that of the plate with a diameter of 90 mm) for inverted culture.
A drop of the Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 suspension was spotted on a LB plate containing 0.5% of agar, and the surface motility was measured 24 h later.
Group 2 Surface Motility of Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b Under Co-Culture with Viable Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 Cells
The Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 suspension and a solid MF medium (containing 5 g agar per liter of a liquid MF medium) were blended evenly at 55° C. and cooled to form a plate. Then a drop of the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b suspension was spotted on the plate, and a cover of the plate was added with a filter paper adsorbing 1 mL of hexadecane (the size of the filter paper was the same as that of the plate with a diameter of 90 mm) for culture.
Group 3 Surface Motility of Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b Under Co-Culture with Dead Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 Cells
The Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 suspension was inactivated at high temperature.
The inactivated Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 suspension and a solid MF medium containing 0.5% agar were blended at 55° C. and cooled to form a plate. A drop of the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b suspension was spotted on the plate, and the plate was added with a filter paper adsorbing hexadecane at its cover and then cultured invertedly.
The plates in the above three groups were cultured for 24 h and then observed for the growth status (colony size) and motility (colonial diffusion size) of each strain.
The motion rate was calculated through dividing the diffusion radius by the growth time.
The results were shown in
These figures clearly demonstrated that neither Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b nor Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 exhibited surface motility when cultured individually (
It can be concluded based on the above results that the presence of viable Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 cells induced the occurrence of surface motility in Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b.
1.3 Investigation on Interaction Between Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b and Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8
Two experimental models, respectively non-contact culture and contact culture, were designed herein.
Non-Contact Culture
A drop of the Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 suspension and a drop of the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b were spotted on a solid MF medium (containing 0.5% agar with hexadecane as the sole carbon source) respectively at a distance of 0 cm (indicating that the two drops of suspensions were close to each other, and were separated merely by a microporous membrane), 1 cm and 2 cm. A solid MF medium only spotted with the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b was used as control. A microporous membrane was provided between the two spots to prevent the two kinds of microorganisms from contacting with each other, but the metabolites were allowed to pass through the membrane (the bacterial cells were larger than the pore size (0.22 μm) of the microporous membrane, so they fail to pass through the membrane, but the metabolites were so small in size that they can pass through the membrane).
Contact Culture
A drop of the Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 suspension and a drop of the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b were spotted on a solid MF medium (containing 0.5% agar with hexadecane as the sole carbon source), where the two spots were close to each other.
After cultured for 24 h, the two strains in the non-contact culture and contact groups were measured for the growth status (colony size) and motility (colonial diffusion size).
It can be seen from
The results of the contact culture group were similar to those shown in
The microorganisms in the contact culture group were observed in real time under an electron microscope, and the results were shown in
The darting-motion surface motility is a special surface motility, which was derived from the change in bacterial structure caused by the contact of two kinds of bacteria.
2. Investigation on the Darting-Motion Surface Motility of Alkane-Degrading Bacteria Caused by Glycocaulis Strains
The investigation on the darting-motion surface motility of alkane-degrading bacteria caused by Glycocaulis strains was performed as follows.
A Glycocaulis bacterial suspension and a solid MF medium (containing 5 g of agar per liter of a liquid MF medium) were blended evenly at 55° C. and cooled to form a plate, onto which a drop of the alkane-degrading bacterial suspension was dripped. A cover of the plate was added with a filter paper adsorbing 1 mL of hexadecane, and the plate was cultured invertedly.
In order to further demonstrate the darting-motion surface motility of the alkane-degrading bacteria caused by the Glycocaulis strains, the following experiments were conducted.
1. Suspensions of Glycocaulis abyssi MCS33T, Glycocaulis albus SLG210-30A1T, Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 and Escherichia coli DH5a were individually blended evenly with a solid MF medium (containing 5 g of agar per liter of a liquid MF medium) at 55° C. and cooled to form a solid plate. Each solid plate was dripped with a drop of the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b suspension, and then cultured invertedly with the cover added with a filter paper adsorbing hexadecane.
A solid MF medium (0.5% agar) spotted with a drop of the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b suspension was used as control.
2. The Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 suspension and a solid MF medium (containing 5 g of agar per liter of a liquid MF medium) were blended uniformly at 55° C. and cooled to form a solid plate, which was then spotted with a drop of a Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b suspension, a Dietzia psychralcaliphila ILA-1T suspension and a Dietzia timorensis DSM 45568T suspension, respectively, and cultured invertedly with the cover added with a filter paper adsorbing hexadecane. The plates free of Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 were individually spotted with the Dietzia suspensions and used as control.
The above-mentioned Glycocaulis strains (i.e., Glycocaulis abyssi MCS33T, Glycocaulis albus SLG210-30A1T and Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8) had been described in Xiang-Lin L, Bai-Sheng X, Man C, et al. (Glycocaulis albus sp. nov. A moderately halophilic dimorphic prosthecate bacterium isolated from petroleum-contaminated saline soil [J]. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 2014, 64(Pt 9)).
The alkane-degrading strain Dietzia psychralcaliphila ILA-1T had been mentioned in Yumoto I, Nakamura A, Iwata H, et al. (Dietzia psychralcaliphila sp. nov. a novel, facultatively psychrophilic alkaliphile that grows on hydrocarbons [J]. International Journal of Systematic &Evolutionary Microbiology, 2002, 52(Pt1):85). The alkane-degrading strain Dietzia timorensis DSM 45568T had been mentioned in Bell M E, Bernard K A, Harrington S M, et al. (Lawsonella clevelandensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a new member of the suborder Corynebacterineae isolated from human abscesses[J]. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 2016, 66(8)).
The growth status and motility of the Dietzia strains were detected, and the results were shown in
It can be seen from
As shown in
It can be concluded from the above that the Glycocaulis strains enabled the alkane-degrading bacterium to display the surface motility through the interaction therebetween. Therefore, a Glycocaulis strain and an alkane-degrading strain can be employed together in the microbial enhanced oil recovery to expand the microbial migration range and expose more residual oil to the microorganisms, enhancing the microbial oil recovery.
A physical model experiment for enhancing the recovery rate for a natural core was conducted. The natural core had a porosity of 22.6%, a pore volume of 23.8 cm3 and a water phase permeability of 178×10−3 μm2.
The water for injection was added with 1 g/L NH4H2PO4, 1 g/L (NH4)2SO4, 1 g/L K2HPO4, 1.2 g/L KNO3, 0.5 g/L peptone and 0.5 g/L yeast extract, and the water for injection was 0.6 times the volume of the natural core.
Three experimental groups (Groups A, B and C) and one control group (Group D) were designed, where group A was added with 1 mL of the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b suspension (107 cells/mL); group B was added with 1 mL of the Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 suspension (107 cells/mL); group C was added with 0.5 mL of the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b suspension (107 cells/mL) and 0.5 mL of the Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 suspension (107 cells/mL); and group D was without any addition of bacterial suspension.
After cultured statically for 18 h, the core was sliced at an interval of 0.5 cm and washed with sterile water, and the water was collected and spread on a plate. The plate was cultured for 36 h and then observed for the motion of microorganisms.
The results were shown in Table 1, and it can be obtained that the microorganisms in group C, in which 0.5 mL of the Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b suspension (107 cells/mL) and 0.5 mL of the Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 suspension (107 cells/mL) were added, showed a significantly larger motion distance, indicating that the Glycocaulis strain Glycocaulis sp. 6B-8 enabled the alkane-degrading strain Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b to exhibit the motility.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201910782140.1 | Aug 2019 | CN | national |
