Application of Polysaccharide Biopolymer in Petroleum Recovery.

Polysaccharide biopolymers are biomacromolecules derived from renewable resources with versatile functions including thickening, crosslinking, adsorption, etc. Possessing high efficiency and low cost, they have brought wide applications in all phases of petroleum recovery, from well drilling to wastewater treatment. The biopolymers are generally utilized as additives of fluids or plugging agents, to correct the fluid properties that affect the performance and cost of petroleum recovery.

Electro-deposition for asphaltene removal during heavy oil upgrading.

Blending crude oil with short-chain paraffins is a common method to improve the oil quality during heavy oil upgrading. The additional paraffins will cause precipitation of asphaltene that is removed by filtration or sedimentation; both processes are slow and inefficient. As a potential faster and more efficient removal method, an electric field can be applied in order to electro-deposit the asphaltene on the electrodes.

Cascade enzymatic reactions for efficient carbon sequestration.

Thermochemical processes developed for carbon capture and storage (CCS) offer high carbon capture capacities, but are generally hampered by low energy efficiency. Reversible cascade enzyme reactions are examined in this work for energy-efficient carbon sequestration. By integrating the reactions of two key enzymes of RTCA cycle, isocitrate dehydrogenase and aconitase, we demonstrate that intensified carbon capture can be realized through such cascade enzymatic reactions.

Biocatalytic carbon capture via reversible reaction cycle catalyzed by isocitrate dehydrogenase.

The practice of carbon capture and storage (CCS) requires efficient capture and separation of carbon dioxide from its gaseous mixtures such as flue gas, followed by releasing it as a pure gas which can be subsequently compressed and injected into underground storage sites. This has been mostly achieved via reversible thermochemical reactions which are generally energy-intensive. The current work examines a biocatalytic approach for carbon capture using an NADP(H)-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH) which catalyzes reversibly carboxylation and decarboxylation reactions.