EL PRASO, TX – According to a 2022 report from the Texas Produced Water Consortium, the Permian Basin hydraulic fracturing industry generates about 168 billion gallons of wastewater (or produced water) annually.
According to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), treating this significant waste stream has proven difficult and costly due to the chemical complexity of the water.
In a new study published in the journal Water, UTEP researchers have discovered a new method for treating wastewater generated by oil and gas production (bacteriophages).
Ramón Antonio Sánchez, a doctoral student in UTEP’s chemistry program, is the first author of the publication, which details how bacteriophages, viruses that are usually highly specific and lethal to a single species of bacteria, can be used as a quick and cost-effective method to treat water produced on an industrial scale.
According to Sanchez, if the work is successful, it will offer the oil and gas industry a means to treat, reuse and recycle produced water, rather than the industry’s current practice of disposing of most produced water by injecting it into the ground after oil exploration.
The research focuses on two of the most important bacteria found in produced water from the oil and gas industry: Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus megaterium. The former is capable of corroding stainless steel and poses a challenge to the longevity of pipelines and other metal infrastructure, while in the latter, it can break down hydrocarbons, the basis of oil.
“Because bacteria are living organisms, over time they developed resistance, in the form of a less penetrable membrane, to traditional disinfectants. But bacteriophages, which are viruses themselves, attach to specific receptors on the host cell surface and evolve alongside the bacteria they are trying to infect, meaning that any resistance acquired by the bacteria triggers modification of the bacteriophages to maintain the infection,” Sanchez explained.
The team’s experiments with bacteriophages have been effective, achieving inactivation of both P. aeruginosa and B. megaterium in laboratory settings. For Sanchez, who graduates this spring with his Ph.D., the work will continue in industry, where he will focus on reproducing his lab results in the field. He will also try to expand the number of microorganisms that can be treated in the produced water by obtaining a broader catalog of bacteriophages.
The team admits that the method has its difficulties. There are currently a limited number of bacteriophages available on the market, which is critical because bacteriophages are usually very specific to a single species of bacteria. There are also other bacterial species in the produced water that have not yet been tested.
