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
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention provides environmentally-friendly compositions and methods for reducing the viscosity of crude oil using microorganisms and/or biosurfactants produced by microorganisms.
Claims15
A method for reducing the viscosity of oil, wherein the method comprises contacting the oil with a composition that comprises a biosurfactant-producing yeast and/or one or more biosurfactants produced by the yeast;
- wherein the yeast is selected from Starmerella bombicola, Pseudozyma aphidis, Wickerhamomyces anomalus, Pichia sydowiorum, Pichia guilliermondii, and Pichia lynferdii.
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 microorganism to the oil sands;
- allowing the oil to detach from the sands;
- and piping out the oil.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.