North Midcontinent Region - Petroleum Technology News - Second Publication 2004

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TORP Researcher Receives DOE Grant

Dr. Jenn-Tai Liang of TORP and the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Kansas, working in conjunction with the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory recently was awarded funding from the National Petroleum Technology Office of the U.S. Department of Energy to study the use of biosurfactants produced from agricultural waste streams to improve oil recovery in fractured carbonate reservoirs.

Previous research has demonstrated that the injection of surfactants into oil reservoirs can be very effective in mobilizing stranded oil. However, the economics of surfactant injection have rarely been favorable in actual field applications because of the cost associated with high-concentration chemical surfactants. This three-year research project will evaluate the use of low-cost biosurfactants produced from high-starch agriculture process waste streams (e.g. potato or rice process effluents) to improve oil recovery in fractured carbonate reservoirs. Specifically, the proposed project will examine the ability of the biosurfactants to mediate wettability changes that positively affect oil recovery in fractured carbonate rock by accelerating the spontaneous imbibition process during waterflooding. The successful completion of this project will not only significantly increase the domestic oil production by recovering the previously unrecoverable stranded oil but will also benefit the environment by promoting the beneficial reuse of agriculture process waste products.

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