Ammonium concentrations in produced waters from a mesothermic oil field subjected to nitrate injection decrease through formation of denitrifying biomass and anammox activity.

ABSTRACT: Community analysis of a mesothermic oil field, subjected to continuous field-wide injection of nitrate to remove sulfide, with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes indicated the presence of heterotrophic and sulfide-oxidizing, nitrate-reducing bacteria (hNRB and soNRB). These reduce nitrate by dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (e.g., Sulfurospirillum and Denitrovibrio) or by denitrification (e.g., Sulfurimonas, Arcobacter, and Thauera). Monitoring of ammonium concentrations in producing wells (PWs) indicated that denitrification was the main pathway for nitrate reduction in the field: breakthrough of nitrate and nitrite in two PWs was not associated with an increase in the ammonium concentration, and no increase in the ammonium concentrat

SUBMITTER: Shartau SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2916462 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature