Microbial-induced controllable cracking of normal and branched alkanes in oils
AssigneeMicrobes, Inc.
InventorsFred Brown, Alejandro Maure, Alan Warren
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Abstract
Processes for treating compositions comprising one or more alkanes (for example crude oils) to enhance volume of the compositions are disclosed. The processes comprise introducing into the composition one or more aerobic microorganisms, thereby forming an intermediate composition, and then introducing one or more anaerobic microorganisms into the intermediate composition to form a second composition, and repeating these steps at least once.
Claims46
A method for treating a composition comprising one or more alkanes to enhance volume of the composition, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) introducing into a composition one or more microorganisms selected from the group consisting of aerobic microorganisms, facultative microorganisms, and combinations thereof, thereby forming an intermediate composition;
- (b) introducing one or more anaerobic microorganisms into the intermediate composition to form a second composition;
- and;
- (c) repeating steps (a) and (b) at least once.
A method for treating a composition comprising alkanes to enhance volume of the composition, comprising introducing an effective amount of microorganisms into the crude oil to alternately carboxylate and decarboxylate the crude for at least two cycles such that crude volume increases at least 5%.
A method for treating a crude oil to enhance volume of the crude oil, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) introducing into a crude oil one or more microorganisms selected from the group consisting of aerobic microorganisms, facultative microorganisms, and combinations thereof, thereby forming an intermediate crude oil;
- (b) introducing one or more anaerobic microorganisms into the intermediate crude oil to form a second crude oil;
- and;
- (c) repeating steps (a) and (b) at least once.
A method for treating crude oil to enhance volume, comprising:
- introducing an effective amount of microorganisms into the crude oil to alternately carboxylate and decarboxylate the crude for at least two cycles such that crude volume increases at least 5%.
46 The method of claim 45 that includes shutting in the well at least hours and producing the well for over a week subsequent to step (b) and prior to repeating step (a).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.