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Biomonitoring Studies and Preventing the Formation of Biogenic H 2 S in the Wierzchowice Underground Gas Storage Facility

Anna Turkiewicz, Teresa Steliga, Dorota Kluk and Zbigniew Gminski
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Anna Turkiewicz: Oil and Gas Institute-National Research Institute, Lubicz 25 A St., 31-503 Cracow, Poland
Teresa Steliga: Oil and Gas Institute-National Research Institute, Lubicz 25 A St., 31-503 Cracow, Poland
Dorota Kluk: Oil and Gas Institute-National Research Institute, Lubicz 25 A St., 31-503 Cracow, Poland
Zbigniew Gminski: PGNiG-Polish Oil and Gas Company, 25 M. Kasprzaka St., 01-224 Warsaw, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-22

Abstract: The article discusses the results of biomonitoring research at the Underground Gas Storage (UGS). Hydrogen sulphide, as one of the products of microbiological reaction and transformation, as well as a product of chemical reactions in rocks, is a subject of interest for global petroleum companies. The materials used in this research work were formation waters and stored natural gas. The biomonitoring of reservoir waters and cyclical analyses of the composition of gas stored at UGS Wierzchowice enabled the assessment of the microbiological condition of the reservoir environment and individual storage wells in subsequent years of operation. Investigations of the formation water from individual wells of the UGS Wierzchowice showed the presence of sulphate reducing bacteria bacteria (SRB), such as Desulfovibrio and Desulfotomaculum genera and bacteria that oxidize sulphur compounds. In the last cycles of UGS Wierzchowice, the content of hydrogen sulphide and sulphides in the reservoir waters ranged from 1.22 to 15.5 mg/dm 3 . The monitoring of natural gas received from UGS production wells and observation wells, which was carried out in terms of the determination of hydrogen sulphide and organic sulphur compounds, made it possible to observe changes in their content in natural gas in individual storage cycles. In the last cycles of UGS Wierzchowice, the content of hydrogen sulphide in natural gas from production wells ranged from 0.69 to 2.89 mg/dm 3 , and the content of organic sulphur compounds converted to elemental sulphur ranged from 0.055 to 0.130 mg S el ./Nm 3 . A higher hydrogen sulphide content was recorded in natural gas from observation wells in the range of 2.02–25.15 mg/Nm 3 . In order to explain the causes of hydrogen sulphide formation at UGS Wierzchowice, isotopic analyses were performed to determine the isotope composition of δ 34 S H2S , δ 34 S SO4 , δ 18 O SO4 in natural gas samples (production and observation wells) and in the deep sample of reservoir water. The results of isotope tests in connection with microbiological tests, chromatographic analyses of sulphur compounds in natural gas collected from UGS Wierzchowice and an analysis of the geological structure of the Wierzchowice deposit allow us to conclude that the dominant processes responsible for the formation of hydrogen sulphide at UGS Wierzchowice are microbiological, consisting of microbial sulphate reduction (MSR). The presented tests allow for the control and maintenance of hydrogen sulphide at a low level in the natural gas received from the Wierzchowice Underground Gas Storage facility.

Keywords: underground gas storage; natural gas; formation waters collected; hydrogen sulphide; organic sulphur compounds; sulphate reducing bacteria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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