A strain of
Lysinibacillus
sp
.
, named as Y316,
can degrade heavy fractions such as resins
and asphaltenes in oil sand. We used Y316 to degrade oil sand samples
for 35 days. After bacterial degradation, the oil sand degradation
efficiency was 5.88%, while the degradation efficiency of the control
group was only 0.29% under the same conditions. Compared with the
control group, the saturated content of oil sand in the degradation
group increased from 9.56 to 14.39%. After degradation, the resin
and asphaltene fractions decreased by 5.34 and 4.77%, respectively.
The results of the vaporizable fraction analysis also confirmed the
degradation of heavy fractions and the formation of light fractions.
After 35 days of degradation, the vaporizable fractions of saturates
increased by 3.76 times. The results indicate that Y316 has great
significance for improving the quality of oil sands and assisting
in oil sand exploitation.