Influence of pH on dynamics of microbial enhanced oil recovery processes using biosurfactant producing Pseudomonas putida: Mathematical modelling and numerical simulation

In present work, the influence of reservoir pH conditions on dynamics of microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) processes using Pseudomonas putida was analysed numerically from the developed mathematical model for MEOR processes. Further, a new strategy to improve the MEOR performance has also been proposed. It is concluded from present study that by reversing the reservoir pH from highly acidic to low alkaline condition (pH 5-8), flow and mobility of displaced oil, displacement efficiency, and original oil in place (OOIP) recovered gets significantly enhanced, resulting from improved interfacial tension (IFT) reduction by biosurfactants. At pH 8, maximum of 26.1% of OOIP was recovered with higher displacement efficiency. The present study introduces a new strategy to increase the recovery efficiency of MEOR technique by characterizing the biosurfactants for IFTmin/IFTmax values for different pH conditions and subsequently, reversing the reservoir pH conditions at which the IFTmin/IFTmax value is minimum. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.