The Fogler Research Group

Sponsors

The University of Michigan Industrial Affiliates Program

This research is supported by a consortium of industrial sponsors. Each company contributes annually so that we may solve fundamental problems that have scientific and industrial impact. Current sponsor fees are $45,000/year.

Our Affiliates Program in Flow and Reaction in Porous Media at the University of Michigan has been in existence for over 25 years. While the original title of our program still exists, Flow and Reaction in Porous Media, the majority of our work is now on acidization, asphaltenes and paraffin problems.

Hyun Lee, who completed his Ph.D. in October 2007, finished the computer code for a simulation to predict wax deposition in field operations. This user friendly simulation is called Michigan Wax Predictor (MWP) which will be given to each of our affiliate companies. The MWP simulation accounts for the usual range of operating variables, flow rates, crude composition, pipeline size, etc. Consequently, each company will be able to adapt it for conditions specific to their needs.

Jason Huang is expending Hyun Lee's work to multiphase flow systems. Jason is a second year Ph.D. student whose work focus on wax deposition on oil/water flows. The first two phase flow regimes we are studying is stratified flows.

Michael Senra, a fourth year Ph.D. student in our group is seeking a more fundamental understanding of the crystallization and deposition of n-alkane in solution. Of particular interest is the role that other materials present in the solution impact the crystallization of the least soluble component. Current work has focused on thermodynamic and deposition characteristics and future work will integrate morphological and rheological characteristics in developing a more complete understanding of crystallization that could be applied to more complex petroleum systems.

Tabish Maqbool is a third year Ph.D. stduent in our group. Tabish's research focuses on developing an understanding of asphaltene precipitation and deposition, both from kinetic and thermodynamic perspectives. The magnitude of asphaltene deposition problems in the oil industry has significantly increased because, with time, reservoirs of conventional light crude oil have been depleted and oil exploration is now driven towards heavier crude oil reservoirs which generally have a higher content of asphaltenes. Our research shows that when the refractive index technique is used to study asphaltene precipitation, water present in the crude oil can yield misleading results by indicating the onset of asphaltene precipitation, when actually asphaltenes have not yet precipitated. We have also developed a capillary flow technique for measuring asphaltene deposition by monitoring the change in pressure drop when a mixture of crude oil and precipitant is pumped through the capillary. Deposition experiments prove that at higher concentration of the precipitant, the rate of deposition is higher. Future work would involve investigating the effect of flow rates, shear and precipitant type (e.g. varying the chain length of alkanes used as precipitants) with the aim of the modeling the kinetics of asphaltene precipitation and deposition.

Kriangkrai Kraiwattanawong is a 4^th year PhD student from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. His work concerns asphaltene flocculation and deposition, important issues in production and processing for heavy oils. Formation of asphaltene solid phase results in pore space blocking, pipeline plugging and reduction of the equipments and reactors by fouling, which has a significant economic impact due to the loss of production and high cost of remediation. To describe the phase transition of asphaltenes, different thermodynamic Gibbs free energy of mixing models and an empirical model have been investigated. A high pressure cell with a laser near-infrared (NIR) detector system has been constructed and utilized to experimentally observe the phase transition and generate data to validate the model. This cell is located at the ConocoPhilips Technology Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Lizzie Wang is a Ph.D. student in her final year working on acidization related to silicate precipitation resulting dissolution of analcime in the Gulf of Mexico reservoirs. This work focuses on obtaining a better understanding the silicate precipitation resulting from the analcime dissolution. The precipitation of silicate is a serious problem as it could block the pore spaces in the formation. This study will look at conditions and inhibitors to prevent the silicate precipitation as well as other chemicals for the dissolution of aniline. Ryan Hartman finished up the first phase of this work relating the kinetic of analcime dissolution and received his Ph.D. two years ago.

This past year, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Nalco, Schlumberger, Shell, and Total were members of the program and are expected to continue their membership this coming year. There is no university overhead on the money we receive for our research so the funds go a long way to support students and provide equipment. Many of the company representatives have been attending our annual meeting for many years. Drs. Jeff Creek (lcre@chevron.com) and Rama Venkatesan (v.rama@chevron.com) at Chevron and Drs. Probjot Singh (Probjot.Singh@conocophillips.com) and Bill Thomason (Bill.Thomason@conocophillips.com) at ConocoPhillips are well aware of the vast differences in the Tulsa model and our model, so please contact them if you have a chance. They are also well aware of the quality of other projects in our program.

As an industrial affiliate member you will receive copies of all data and information generated while the company is a member, in addition to annual reports and copies of completed theses written for each project. We also encourage interaction between affiliate companies and graduate students in our laboratories, as well as student internships at the affiliate labs. Some of our most creative and competent students throughout the year have taken employment at affiliate companies.

Sponsors may also receive non-exclusive license for the use of any product or procedure developed under the Industrial Affiliates Program at no licensing fee. Exceptions to this would be in cases where such licenses would conflict with preceding license agreements, or University policy.

The following is a current list of the students who are working with the Industrial Affiliates Program (most of which are Ph.D. candidates) and their research topics:

Ph.D. Projects this past year