Microbial Insights is proud to team with researchers, regulators, and companies serving the mining and oil and gas industries to apply proven microbial solutions to some of the energy sector’s most pressing challenges. The unbiased, actionable data Microbial Insights provides can help to cost-effectively enhance the efficiency, sustainability, and environmental responsibility of industrial operations. Below are four areas where advanced biological tools deliver measurable value to the energy sector.
Mineral and Rare Earth Element Recovery
In the mining industry, strategies that harness microbial processes are increasingly attractive for improving the recovery efficiency of precious metals from low grade ores. A similar approach can be used to recover critical minerals and rare earth elements from waste streams generated by other industries, such as coal ash and oilfield produced water. The comparatively low energy and solvent usage of bioleaching and biosorption methods can reduce the costs and environmental risks associated with landfill disposal while providing a new revenue stream and domestic source for critical minerals.
Learn More: Register for this month’s webinar: Mining Peptides for Mining Solutions: Using Biotechnology to Separate and Purify Critical Minerals by Dr. Kate Kucharzyk of Battelle Memorial Institute.
Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion
Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) impacts nearly all industries and can exact a severe toll in terms of unplanned downtime, health and safety concerns, and decreased asset lifespan. Industries are increasingly recognizing the importance of devoting resources to diagnose, mitigate, and monitor MIC to protect their system operations and assets, which is exemplified by our joint industry project with DNV and ExxonMobil URC.
In addition to collecting chemical and mineralogical data, molecular microbiological methods, like QuantArray®-MIC and Next Generation Sequencing, can provide key evidence needed to increase confidence in MIC management decisions. For example, if MIC- associated microorganisms and genes aren’t directly evaluated, the chosen biocide or other mitigation strategy may not be effective or could even exacerbate MIC.
Souring Mitigation
During oil recovery, reservoirs can become contaminated with a gas called hydrogen sulfide (H2S). This is referred to as “reservoir souring” and, due to the corrosive and toxic nature of H2S, is extremely costly to remediate. A common strategy for prevention of biological H2S production is the injection of nitrate into oil and gas reservoirs – this method stimulates denitrifiers and outcompetes processes that cause souring. In 2024, Microbial Insights teamed up with Rawwater Engineering Company Ltd to perform a study using high-pressure bioreactors to mimic reservoir conditions. The goal was to determine the impacts of underdosing nitrate in a reservoir that has the potential for souring. Alongside Rawwater’s chemical measurements, Microbial Insights performed Next Generation Sequencing to study both the planktonic and sessile communities within the bioreactors throughout the process.
Results from this study were presented by Matthew Streets at the 2025 SPE Annual Conference on Oilfield Chemistry.
Bioremediation and Ecosystem Restoration
Bioremediation can help reduce the cleanup costs and risks associated with accidental releases of wastes produced during mining or oil and gas operations, including mine tailings, acid rock drainage, produced water, and oil. Molecular biological tools can be used to assess the potential for bioremediation and then to monitor the treatment’s success. For long-term restoration projects, trending microbial data from analyses like QuantArray®-BGC and Next Generation Sequencing can provide a line of evidence demonstrating ecosystem recovery.
Microbial solutions for the energy sector are emerging as a transformative force that empower stakeholders to optimize their processes with cost-effective, environmentally friendly methods. Microbial Insights can provide high-quality, high-resolution data driven insights into these microbial processes using molecular biological tools.
If you are interested in collaborating, please reach out to Microbial Insights today at 865-573-8188 or [email protected].
