WIJDAN H. AL-TAMIMI, SAMAHER A. LAZIM, MOAYED A. ABD AL-SAHIB, ZAINAB MOHSEN HAMEED, SAAD SHAKIR MAHDI AL-AMARA, AHMED A. BURGHAL AND MARWAN Y. AL-MAQTOOFI
Abstract
Isolation of bacterial species from produced water of oil field and exhibited ability for biosurfactants production and then evaluate the efficiency of biosurfactants in improving oil recovery. Three bacterial species identified as B. cereus (M1), B. cereus (M2) and B. licheniformis (M3) were recovered from produced water of oil fiel. There was a significant reduction in surface tension by B. cereus (M1) 53 mN/m to 38 mN/m, B. cereus (M2) 35 mN/m and 32.9 mN/m for B. licheniformis (M3). The highest oil displacement of B. cereus (M2) was 40mm while B. cereus (M1) was the lowest rate. The strongest emulsification activity (100%) was for both M1 and M2, while the highest oil recovery in test tubes (25%) and beakers (52%) was by M1. The highest degradation rate was 66% B. licheniformis (M3) followed by 63% and 57% for B. cereus (M1) and B. cereus (M2) respectively. The GC analysis of crude oil n-alkanes showed that all species have biodegradation efficiency comparing with the control. The study showed a significant ability of these strains for producing biosurfactants that can apply for Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery MEOR.