‘Enhanced Oil Recovery with application of Enzymes’ is the part of the large-scale BioRec project, evaluated under the The Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation.
The work implies cooperation with the oil industries, such as Maersk Oil, Dong Energy and Danish Technological Institute, as well as with the biotechnological company, such as Novozymes. Collaboration with petroleum and biotechnology corporations has a great potential, therefore development of new biotechnologies that consequently might be applied within Danish oil fields is expected as an overall result of the BioRec project.
Enzymes are quite well-known biological agents and have been applied previously in petroleum industry. However, only recently they have been introduced into the field of enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Although initially reported results of the application of enzymes for EOR are quite positive and promising, working mechanisms are poorly known and understood.
The main goal of the work is to establish possible mechanisms in which enzymes may enhance oil recovery. The experiments will be focused on wettability and IFT alterations and investigation of changes in oil composition under the influence of enzymes; set of dynamic tests (e.g. core displacement tests) are also going to be carried out in the framework of the project.
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Alexander Shapiro: ash@kt.dtu.dk
Co-supervisor: Prof. John Woodley, jowo@kt.dtu.dk