Materials and methods for reducing viscosity of oil
AssigneeLocus Oil IP Company, LLC
InventorsSean Farmer, Ken Alibek, Sharmistha Mazumder, Kent Adams, Tyler Dixon, Yajie Chen, Karthik N. Karathur, Nicholas Callow, Blake Ott, Anthony Nerris
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Abstract
The invention provides environmentally-friendly compositions and methods for reducing the viscosity of crude oil using microorganisms and/or biosurfactants produced by microorganisms.
Claims16
A method for reducing the viscosity of oil, wherein the method comprises contacting the oil with a composition that comprises one or more yeasts selected from Stannerella bombicola, Psendozyma aphidis, Pichia anomala, Pichia sydowiorum, Pichia guilliermondii, and Pichia lynferdii;
- one or more biosurfactants:
- and fermentation broth in which the one or more yeasts were grown, said fermentation broth comprising metabolites produced by the one or more yeasts.
The method of claim, wherein the yeast is selected from Pichia anomala and Pichia guilliermondii.
The method of claim I , wherein the yeast is Starmerella bombicola.
A method for recovering oil from oil sands comprising applying a composition that comprises a biosurfactant-producing yeast and/or one or more biosurfactants produced by a yeast to the oil sands;
- allowing the oil to detach from the sands;
- and piping out the oil.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.