Modeling of microorganisms transport in a cylindrical pore

Abstract

A mathematical model accounting for key parameters as microbial propagation, metabolite formation, dispersion, microbial chemotaxis and water flooding has been proposed to simulate the transport of microorganisms and their metabolites in a cylindrical pore with oil adhered to its inside surface. The model focuses on the transport and the concentration distributions of microorganisms and their metabolites in the cylindrical pore, especially the concentrations that on the oil-water interface. Results from the present model indicate that microorganisms and their metabolites assembled on the oil-water interface during the water flooding process, and the concentration gradients of microorganisms and their metabolites from the pore center region up to the oil-water interface in radial direction of the cylindrical pore were consequently formed. Equilibrium concentrations of microorganisms and their metabolites in the cylindrical pore were obtained when water flow rate within a certain scope, and there existed a critical water flow rate at which the maximum equilibrium concentration of microorganisms on the oil-water interface was developed. Investigations carried out in this study may provide better understanding on the transport mechanism of microorganisms in porous media.

Exploiting Microbes in the Petroleum Field: Analyzing the Credibility of Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR)

“…Numerical calculations help enhance the yield of oil and minimize the cost of the technique. However, this is not straightforward, because the calculations involve microbial activities that are subject to strict geo-environmental restrictions [55,153].…”

“…The variables in the model are τ res , the bacterial residue time in a cylindrical reaction zone [153] of radius r m , depth h, and porosity φ. They are related as:…”

“…The wettability alteration, permeability and porosity alteration, IFT relaxation between oil and water in porous media, and microbial clogging mechanism increase production of incremental oil and its sweep efficiency [134]. Three-dimensional modelling, including these parameters and additional assumptions, has helped in simulating a model for a hypothetical reservoir with the provided experimental data [21,53,134,150,153,155,156].…”