Inactivation of Bacteria in Oil Field Injection Water by Non-thermal Plasma Treatment

Microbial pollution commonly causes serious pipe corrosion in oil field injection water system. This paper reports on the application of non-thermal plasma to inactivate bacteria in oil filed injection water. As an efficient inactivation technology, pulsed streamer discharge plasma method injects energy into solution through a plasma channel formed by discharge between electrodes and produces various active species in solution with physical effects (electric field, UV etc.) occurring. Saprophytic bacteria, iron bacteria and sulfate reducing bacteria are used as target. The effects of various gases bubbling (oxygen, nitrogen and air) as well as aeration intensity are investigated. Experimental results show that the inactivation efficiency is greatly enhanced by gas bubbling. After 150 s discharge with oxygen bubbling (667 m3 (m3 h)−1), the inactivation efficiencies of saprophytic bacteria, iron bacteria and sulfate reducing bacteria achieve 1.85, 4.51 and 5.70 log reduction, respectively. The possible mechanism of bacteria inactivation is also discussed.