The Use of Bioremediation as a Potential Treatment for Produced Water

Abigail Paul*, Shawn Grushecky and Zachary Freedman, Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Field (Broad Category): Environmental Science & Sustainability-Environmental Microbiology (Agricultural & Environmental Sciences) 

Student’s Major: Chemical Engineering 

A byproduct from the production of natural gas and petroleum is produced water. Large volumes of produced water are generated annually and can be as high as 2 million gallons per unconventional well. Produced water can be reused in the fracking process, injected in storage wells after use, or treated before being released into the environment. One possible treatment option, bioremediation, uses naturally occuring bacteria in soil around the sites of fracking to remove some of these toxins, specifically hydrocarbons. Using this method, produced water can be inoculated with these bacteria to potentially reduce the number of toxins present in the water. In this experiment, bacteria from well sites in the Appalachian region were cultured and used to study their effectiveness in treating produced water. A pure culture of bacteria from Saskatchewan that has been shown to degrade hydrocarbons was also cultured. These samples will be grown under three conditions; nutrient media with crude oil, nutrient media with produced water, and nutrient media with a mix of crude oil and produced water. A total of 36 samples were included, 3 replicates per treatment and bacteria culture. Water quality samples will be taken and sent to the West Virginia University analytical lab where it is then tested. The results are then compared to the heat killed samples to determine if the bacteria had any effect on the produced water. A significant reduction in the hydrocarbons present in the samples as well as a reduction in ion concentration is expected. 

Funding: National Science Foundation EPSCOR project "Improving Water Management, Treatment, Recovery in Oil and Gas Production" 

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course