Ryosuke Okuno

Research Areas
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Carbon Capture and Mineralization (CCM)
Carbon Capture and Conversion (CCC)
Direct Air Capture (DAC)
Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)
Geochemistry
Hydrogen Generation, Transportation and Storage
Numerical Simulation
Reservoir Engineering
Thermodynamics and Phase Behavior
Transport Phenomena

Research Website

Educational Qualifications
PhD, Petroleum Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 2009
ME, Geosystem Engineering, University of Tokyo, 2000
BE, Geosystem Engineering, University of Tokyo, 1998

PGE Courses
PGE 427: Properties of Petroleum Fluids
PGE 384: Advanced Thermodynamics and Phase Behavior
PGE 387K: Fundamentals of Enhanced Oil Recovery I

Research
Dr. Okuno’s research and teaching interests include carbon capture/utilization/storage, enhanced oil recovery, unconventional oil and gas resources, hydrogen energy, thermodynamics, multiphase behavior, numerical flow simulation, and applied mathematics. He serves as the director for the Energi Simulation Industrial Affiliate Program on Carbon Utilization and Storage (ES Carbon UT). Before joining the UT PGE faculty in August 2015, he served as an assistant professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Alberta. He also has seven years of industrial experience as a reservoir engineer, and is a registered Professional Engineer in Alberta, Canada.

Awards & Honors
UT PGE Teaching Award, December 2022.

SPE Regional Reservoir Description and Dynamics Award – Southwestern Region, April 2019.

SPE Petroleum Engineering Junior Faculty Research Initiation Award, 2012.

Associate Editor Award, SPE Journal, 2022, 2023.

Technical Editor Award, SPE Journal, SPE, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024.

Technical Editor Award, SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, SPE, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021.

Excellence in Peer Review, Journal of Natural Gas Science & Engineering, Elsevier, 2014.

Highlighted Publications and Google Scholar Profile
Mirzaei-Paiaman, A. and Okuno, R., Critical Review on Wettability, Optimal Wettability, and Artificial Wettability Alteration in Rock-Brine-CO₂ Systems for Geologic Carbon Sequestration, Gas Science and Engineering, Volume 132, p. 205499, December 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgsce.2024.205499

Mirzaei-Paiaman, A., Carrasco-Jaim, O.A., and Okuno, R., Techno-Economic-Environmental Study of CO₂ and Aqueous Formate Solution Injection for Geologic Carbon Storage and Enhanced Oil Recovery, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Volume 138, p. 104257, October 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2024.104257

Adekomi, A.Z., Carrasco-Jaim, O.A., Weerasooriya, U.P., and Okuno, R., Enhanced CO₂ Capture-Desorption by Surface-Active Amine, Energy & Fuel, Volume 38, Issue 15, pp. 14435–14448, July 11, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.4c01208

Achour, S.H., Lawal, T., Sheng, K., and Okuno, R., Thermodynamic Modeling of Aqueous Nanobubble Dispersion. SPE Journal, Volume 29, Issue 6, pp. 3204–3222, June 12, 2024.  https://doi.org/10.2118/215122-PA

Achour, S.H. and Okuno, R., Advanced Modeling of Diffusion and Convection in Multiphase Compositional Simulation for Tight Porous Media, Geoenergy Science & Engineering, Volume 230, p. 212183, November 2023.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoen.2023.212183

Sheng, K., Okuno, R., Al-Gawfi, A., and Nakutnyy, P., The Impact of Permeability Barriers on Steam-Solvent Coinjection — A Mechanistic Study Using a Physical Model, Geoenergy Science & Engineering, Volume 223, p. 211569, April 2023.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoen.2023.211569

Achour, S.H. and Okuno, R., Phase Stability Analysis for Tight Porous Media by Minimization of the Helmholtz Free Energy.  Fluid Phase Equilibria, Volume 520, p. 112648, October 1, 2020.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fluid.2020.112648

Wang, M., Baek, K., Abeykoon, G.A., Argüelles-Vivas, F.J. and Okuno, R., Comparative Study of Ketone and Surfactant for Enhancement of Water Imbibition in Fractured Porous Media, Energy and Fuels, Volume 24, Issue 5, pp. 5159–5167, May 21, 2020.  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b03571

Sheng, K., Okuno, R., and Wang, M., Dimethyl Ether as an Additive to Steam for Improved Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage, SPE Journal, Volume 23, Issue 4, pp. 1201–1222,  August 2018.  https://doi.org/10.2118/184983-PA 

Okuno, R., Johns, R.T., and Sepehrnoori, K., A New Algorithm for Rachford-Rice for Multiphase Compositional Simulation, SPE Journal, Volume 15, Number 2, pp. 313–325, June 2010.  http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/117752-PA