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US 8,408,292 B2Granted
Method for pre-treatment of subterranean sites adjacent to water injection wells
AssigneeE.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
InventorsAlbert W. Alsop, Robert D. Fallon, Scott Christopher Jackson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method to improve the effectiveness of MEOR or bioremediation processes. In this method toxic chemicals accumulated in subterranean sites adjacent to the water injection wells are either dispersed or removed prior to introduction of microbial inocula for enhanced microbial oil recovery or bioremediation of these sites.
Claims7
An oil recovery method comprising the steps of:
- a) treating a subterranean site in a zone adjacent to a water injection well with a detoxifying agent wherein, prior to the treatment, corrosion inhibitors and their degradation products have been absorbed into the zone and have accumulated to concentrations that are toxic to microorganisms used in microbial enhanced oil recovery and bioremediation processes, and thereby have formed a toxic zone, wherein the detoxifying agent is also a dispersing agent selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, hydrofluoric acid, acetic acid and oxalic acid;
- and
- b) adding an inoculum of microorganisms for microbial enhanced oil recovery to the water injection well wherein the inoculum of microorganisms comprises Shewanella putrefaciens (ATCC PTA-8822);
- wherein the corrosion inhibitor is an inorganic compound selected from the group consisting of chlorine, hypochlorite, bromine, hypobromide, chlorine dioxide, hydrazine, anthraquinone, phosphates, and salts containing chrome, molybdenum, zinc, nitrates, nitrites and sodium sulfite.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.