Thursday, August 30, 1984/The Battalion/Page 3B
ids Bacteria may fight acid rain
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United Press International
WOODS HOLE, Mass. — Sulfur
eating ocean bacteria may one day
be used to eat hydrogen sulfide, thus
partially solving the acid rain prob-
em while serving as food for com-
nercially valuable shellfish.
For the past two years, two Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institute mi
crobiologists have grown a popula
tion of the tiny creatures that eat hy
drogen sulfide and carbon dioxide.
They believe these gases could be
fed to large populations of the crea-
ures. The bacteria might then be
fed to mussels and other shellfish,
ifhich could be sold to seafood
vers.
“We envision this as a final stage
of gas cleanup that might pay for it-
or even make a profit,” said
Sraig Taylor, an associate scientist in
the biology department. “But a lot
depends on the economic aspects
that haven’t been investigated yet.
We’re still in the stages of basic re
search.”
Taylor works with Holger Jan-
nasch, a Woods Hole senior scientist.
The pair envisions the bacteria be
ing used in detoxification stations
the size of sewage treatment plants.
The stations would be located near
hydrogen sulfide producing indus
tries, such as fuel refineries and steel
plants.
The first stage of gas cleanup
would still require large-scale detoxi
fication processes. Hydrogen sulfide
gas is so corrosive that even low lev
els left behind are still environmen
tally hazardous and produce a smell
like rotten eggs. Even these small
amounts of gas are still difficult and
expensive to remove.
Once the smoke has been run
through the first stage it could then
be run through the detoxification
stations, which would use the bacte
ria to remove the last of the sulfur.
Hydrogen sulfide is often present
in natural gas, petroleum and coal.
Fuel refinement usually produces
high concentrations of this chemical
that must somehow be disposed of.
The hydrogen sulfide when re
leased into the air turns into sulfuric
acid, which when mixed with rain
falls as one of the primary compo
nents of acid rain.
When the acid rain falls on ponds
that do not have the ability to buffer
the acid, the water’s acidity rises and
kills the animals that live in the
ponds. When the acid rain falls on
forest and croplands it is thought to
stunt the growth and even kill many
types of plants.
The scientists started their bacte
ria population by pouring seawater
into a specially designed reactor that
provides for the growth of surface-
attached microorganisms. Then hy
drogen sulfide mixed with seawater
was pumped through the system and
the sulfur-eating bacteria multiplied
while other organisms starved.
The laboratory population is
housed in a small tank. The scientists
hope to start a new experimental
population in a larger tank that
would be a small-scale version of in
dustrial-sized plants, which would
probably contain four 12-foot-diam
eter cylinders containing rotating
disks or honeycombed structures
with a large surface area.
Independents eager
about new oil find
arimutuel horse racing is now
legal for first time in Oklahoma
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United Press International
SALLISAW, Okla. — Oklahoma’s
irst legal parimutuel horse race will
lecome a reality Thursday with an
tstimated 10,000 people on hand to
vatch and place bets, a Ribbon
)owns spokesman said Wednesday.
“We expect around 10,000,” track
pokesman Lance Burchett said.
That’s smaller than the original
rowd anticipated before races were
put on hold two weeks.
The Oklahoma Horse Racing
iommission examined the track and
determined the facility was not re-
dy for races to begin Aug. 16. Last
unday, the commission gave the go-
The Oklahoma Horse
Racing Commission ex
amined the track and de
termined the facility was
not ready for races to be
gin A ug. 16.
ahead to begin parimutuel races
Thursday.
“As far as opening day we don’t
expect we will have as large a crowd
as we would have had,” Burchett
said. “As far as opening weekend
goes, we should average more over
the entire weekend.”
It’s difficult to predict how much
money the opening crowd will bet,
Burchett said, but a good estimate is
usually an average $ 100 per person.
“That just all depends on how
many people show up and how
much they want to bet,” he said.
“We would certainly be pleased if
we had a handle of $1 million a day,”
he said. “I don’t think that’s an un
reasonable amount. That’s 10,000
people at $100 per head.”
The first race will get underway at
1:30 p.m. Thursday, following noon
opening ceremonies. Burchett said
the program would include six quar
ter horse races, four thoroughbred
races and one paint and one appa-
loosa race.
Spectators will come from as far
away as Dallas, Little Rock, Ark., Ok
lahoma City and Springfield, Mo.,
Burchett said. The horses compet
ing will be “from the east coast to the
west coast,” he said.
The audience will find the track
finished, except for the offices, Bur
chett aid.
“Anything the betting public will
be concerned with is ready,” he said.
United Press International
DALLAS — Some oilpatch vet
erans are barely able to restrain
their enthusiasm for an gas and
oil find in the Southeast Ginger
Field in Rains County,
“It has all the earmarks of a
hellacious oil and gas field,”
crowed Ran Ricks, head of Ricks
Exploration Co. of Oklahoma
City.
“It’s one of the more prolific
fields to be developed in recent
years,” said Rod Robinson, mar
keting manager for Deep Gas Ex
ploration Inc., also of Oklahoma
City.
Deep Gas and Ricks have been
partners in two wells in the field
about 60 miles east of Dallas.
Their first well, Jenkins 272-A
went 12,696 feet and was tested at
a rate of 1,555 barrels a day of
rich 59.4 degree API gravity con
densate and 4.7 million cubic feet
of natural gas a day, on a % inch
choke. In the United States, that
is a large well by any scale.
“Independent engineers have
estimated that that single hole will
produce about $100 million in fu
ture revenues,” said Robinson.
The second well tested at a da
ily rate of 1,140 barrels of 58.2
degree condensate and 6.7 mil
lion cubic feet of gas through a
half inch choke. No independent
test has been done on the well.
Kevin Leonard, president of
Deep Gas, said the field has 200
feet of play in the Smackover Do
lomite formation. Ricks and Deep
Gas are planning to drill at least
two more wells in the area.
Gates Brelsford, a spokesman
for Prairie Producing Co. of
Houston, said his company dis
covered the field and has four
wells producing in the area now.
One of the wells is producing 5.6
million cubic feet of gas per day,
plus 1,459 barrels of condensate.
Brelsford said it is the largest
Smackover discovery in since a
boom in that that formation 20 or
more years ago.
Brelsford said the field was
part of a larger Smackover for
mation that curves like a giant
boomerang through northeast
Texas. The Southeast Ginger
Field is in the center of the
boomerang, he said.
Gas and oil produced by the
Prairie Production wells is piped
to a Cities Service processing
plant a few miles away while the
production from the Deep Gas-
Ricks wells is being taken to the
nearby Amoco Edgewood Plant.
The gas is extremely sour — with
a highly toxic mixture of hydro
gen sulfide.
“That used to be a problem but
right now sulfur is selling at an
all-time high,” said Ricks. “I’ve
read an estimate that there is only
a two-year supply of sulfur in the
United States. Now it’s selling in
excess of $ 100 a ton.”
Sulfur is a by-product derived
from the sour gas.
Leonard cautions that the wells
will have to produce for six
months to a year before a fairly
accurate estimate of their produc
tion can be made.
“The estimates may raise them,
or may lower them somewhat,”
Leonard said. “But even if they
cut them in half, the field still be
very good. Whatever they give it
(as an estimate), the final evalua
tion will be tremendous.”
Deep Gas and Ricks have 4,000
acres leased in the field. Ricks
thinks the six wells already drilled
in the area will produce 10 mil
lion barrels of oil.
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