Enhanced Oil Recovery
Enhanced oil recovery research includes topics such as how to improve oil recovery from all types of geological formations by any of a number of methods such as chemical (polymer, surfactant, nanoparticles, polymer gels), low salinity, microbial, miscible gas and thermal EOR as well as a variety of novel and hybrid methods such as combining gas and chemicals (low tension gas/foam flooding) and steam with solvents.
This research involves both laboratory and modeling approaches to investigate process mechanisms, optimization and development of new chemicals, new models and new and better ways to design and predict field performance taking into account geology, geochemistry, petrophysics and reservoir engineering among other factors.