A two-compartment upflow pilot scale bioreactor system for microbial sulfate reduction control studies

Souring in oil fields occurs mainly due to the activity of sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB). Most of the studies on SRB are performed using upflow packed-bed reactors that have a limitation to describe the region close to the injection wells in oil fields, which is characterized by void and saturated porous bed regions. Here, it is described the design and operation of a pilot scale system to investigate the SRB activity, inhibition and control in oil fields. • The bioreactor is composed by two-compartments (empty and packed-bed). • The reactor system has two parallel bioreactors that can be supplied with the same source of nutrients through a single pump or can be supplied separately with different solutions using two pumps. • The hydrodynamics for conventional packed bed bioreactors has a mixing behavior dependent of the flow rate and has a significant by-pass. In contrast, the two-compartment system presented here has a mixing behavior almost independent of the flow rate.