Due to the inappropriate treatment of dairy wastewater, which can easily cause underground water pollution, there is an increasing need for a novel approach to reuse dairy wastewater. The technology of microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation with environmentally friendly characteristics and high efficiency has been widely used for underground infrastructure remediation. However, there is a lack of in-depth research on the application of this technology under extreme underground environments, such as the borehole of oil wells with high temperature, high pressure, alkaline, and aerobic conditions. In addition, to reduce the cost of this technology when applied on a large scale, we adopted dairy wastewater to cultivate bacteria. Then, we put the bacterial solution into cement slurry in the borehole to improve the cementing quality. In this paper, the rheology properties, mechanical strength, permeability, porosity, and pore distribution of microbial cementing slurry were studied. Moreover, we applied this microbial cement slurry in the Chunguang 17-14 well of China, and the sealing channeling ability of cement sheath on site was evaluated. The results showed that dairy wastewater could serve as an alternative medium to provide nutrients and energy for the growth of bacteria with low cost. Additionally, the microbial cement slurry exhibited a good right-angle thickening performance and high mechanical strength. The field application displayed an anti-gas channeling ability after microbial remediation. The application of dairy wastewater incubated bacteria to cement slurry not only provides an alternative method for the reuse of dairy wastewater but is also conducive to prolonging the lifespan of oil wells.
Superabsorbent polymers to seal and heal cracks in cementitious materials