Team:Lethbridge/projectsummary

Project

Summary

Increasing global oil demands require innovative technologies for the extraction of unconventional oil sources such as those found in Alberta’s Carbonate Triangle. Carbonate oil deposits account for almost 50% of the world’s oil reserves and 26% of Alberta’s bitumen1. Due to unstable oil prices in Western Canada, these vast reserves have historically been set aside in favour of less time consuming, more economical sites. Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) has been utilized across the world to increase the productivity of difficult resources including carbonate oil deposits. Using a synthetic biology approach, we have designed the CAB (CO2, acetic acid, and biosurfactant) extraction method that demonstrates a modified MEOR method for extracting carbonate oil deposits. CAB extraction will utilize natural carbon fixation machinery in the cyanobacteria Synechococcus elongatus to convert CO2 into sugars to fuel acetic acid and biosurfactant production in Escherichia coli. Acetic acid applied to carbonate rock increases the pore sizes and produces gases to help pressurize the well site and facilitate extraction. The biosurfactant rhamnolipid will also be applied to the carbonate rock to further enhance extraction yields. Our objectives include:

• Introducing enzymes for glucose production and secretion into S. elongatus to convert CO2 into metabolites needed to fuel E. coli cell growth.
• Constructing a co-localized multi-enzymatic pathway in E. coli for optimized acetic acid production and secretion.
• Utilizing Pseudomonas aeruginosa enzymes in E. coli to produce rhamnolipid to enhance oil recovery together with the acetic acid.
• Integrating an inducible “kill switch” gene into the E. coli genome to prevent cell proliferation and risk of environmental contamination.

By coupling carbon capture with acetic acid and biosurfactant production, carbonate oil deposits can be mined with reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The use of carbon fixation to feed downstream systems can be tailored for use in many applications requiring inexpensive methods for fueling biological systems. Furthermore, a carbon capture module will be of interest in more conventional oil extraction strategies such as in situ steam methods, as it will help mitigate CO2 emissions caused by steam production using natural gas. CAB extraction will be suitable for large-scale bioreactors, providing an alternative, inexpensive, and environmentally sustainable method for MEOR from Alberta’s oil deposits.