Start Publications Enhanced oil recovery by hydrophobins from Lecanicillium lecanii
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Enhanced oil recovery by hydrophobins from Lecanicillium lecanii

Year: 2018

Journal: Fuel, Volume 224, JUL 15, page 10–16

Authors: Rocha-Pino, Zaizy; Ramos-Lopez, Jesus I.; Gimeno, Miquel; Barragan-Aroche, Fernando; Duran-Valencia, Cecilia; Lopez-Ramirez, Simon; Shirai, Keiko

Organizations: DGAPA; CONACYT [237292]

Keywords: Solid-state fermentation; Hydrophobins; Lipases; Enhanced oil recovery; Interfacial activity

The hydrophobins (HFB)s are a class of proteins with high surface tension and thermostability which potential application in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The entomopathogenic fungus Lecanicillium lecanii produced HFBs in an 8.8L-scale solid-state fermentation using polyurethane foams as inert support in three configurations. Additionally, crude enzyme with lipase activity was also produced and tested for EOR individually or in combination with HFBs. The polyurethane foam support in cubes attained the highest yield of class I HFB (17.3 +/- 1%) and the highest lipase activity (3.6 +/- 0.2 U/mg protein). These HFBs formed stable oil-water emulsions displaying an interfacial tension up to 7.6 +/- 0.3 mN/m. The proteins were used in limestone cores under tertiary recovery oil well conditions to achieve up to 14% recovery.