Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE)

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At the Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE), multidisciplinary research teams develop beneficial uses for microbial biofilms and find solutions to industrially relevant biofilm problems. The CBE was established at Montana State University, Bozeman, in 1990 as a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. As part of the MSU College of Engineering, the CBE gives students a chance to get a head start on their careers by working on research teams led by world-recognized leaders in the biofilm field.

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Author: search.filters.author.Bedey, KaylaSubject: search.filters.subject.Shale

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    Beyond the Surface: Non-Invasive Low-Field NMR Analysis of Microbially-Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation in Shale Fractures
    (Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2024-07) Willet, Matthew R.; Bedey, Kayla; Crandall, Dustin; Seymour, Joseph D.; Rutqvist, Jonny; Cunningham, Alfred B.; Phillips, Adrienne J.; Kirkland, Catherine M.
    Microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a biological process in which microbially-produced urease enzymes convert urea and calcium into solid calcium carbonate (CaCO3) deposits. MICP has been demonstrated to reduce permeability in shale fractures under elevated pressures, raising the possibility of applying this technology to enhance shale reservoir storage safety. For this and other applications to become a reality, non-invasive tools are needed to determine how effectively MICP seals shale fractures at subsurface temperatures. In this study, two different MICP strategies were tested on 2.54 cm diameter and 5.08 cm long shale cores with a single fracture at 60 ℃. Flow-through, pulsed-flow MICP-treatment was repeatedly applied to Marcellus shale fractures with and without sand (“proppant”) until reaching approximately four orders of magnitude reduction in apparent permeability, while a single application of polymer-based “immersion” MICP-treatment was applied to an Eagle Ford shale fracture with proppant. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and X-Ray computed microtomography (micro-CT) techniques were used to assess the degree of biomineralization. With the flow-through approach, these tools revealed that while CaCO3 precipitation occurred throughout the fracture, there was preferential precipitation around proppant. Without proppant, the same approach led to premature sealing at the inlet side of the core. In contrast, immersion MICP-treatment sealed off the fracture edges and showed less mineral precipitation overall. This study highlights the use of LF-NMR relaxometry in characterizing fracture sealing and can help guide NMR logging tools in subsurface remediation efforts.
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