Polymer biodegradation by <i>Halanaerobium</i> promotes reservoir souring during hydraulic fracturing.

ABSTRACT: Hydraulically fractured shale reservoirs have facilitated studies of unexplored niches in the continental deep biosphere. In high-salinity North American shale systems, members of the genus Halanaerobium seem to be ubiquitous. Polymers like guar gum used as gelling agents in hydraulic fracturing fluids are known to be fermentable substrates, but metabolic pathways encoding these processes have not been characterized. To explore this, produced water samples from the Permian Basin were incubated both at 30°C to simulate above-ground storage conditions and at 60°C to simulate subsurface reservoir conditions. Guar metabolism coincided with Halanaerobium growing only at 30°C, revealing genes for polymer biodegradation through the mixed-acid fermentation pathway in different metage

SUBMITTER: Scheffer G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12093946 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature