Core Flood study for enhanced oil recovery through ex-situ bioaugmentation with thermo- and halo-tolerant rhamnolipid produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa NCIM 5514

The aim of this work was to study the Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) employing core field model ex-situ bioaugmenting a thermo- and halo-tolerant rhamnolipid produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) revealed that the biosurfactant produced was rhamnolipid type. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance analysis showed that the purified rhamnolipids comprised two principal rhamnolipid homologues, i.e., Rha-Rha-C₁₀-C_14:1 and Rha-C₈-C₁₀. The rhamnolipid was stable under wide range of temperature (4 °C, 30–100 °C), pH (2.0–10.0) and NaCl concentration (0–18%, w/v). Core Flood model was designed for oil recovery operations using rhamnolipid. The oil recovery enhancement over Residual Oil Saturation was 8.82% through ex-situ bioaugmentation with rhamnolipid. The thermal stability of rhamnolipid shows promising scope for its application at conditions where high temperatures prevail in oil recovery processes, whereas its halo-tolerant nature increases its application in marine environment. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd.