Okuno's Research Team

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PO Box 16122 Collins Street West Victoria, Australia

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Phone: + (066) 0760 0260 / + (057) 0760 0560

Dr. Ryosuke Okuno to Lead EnergiX Industrial Affiliate Program at UT Austin

May 19, 2026

CALGARY, AUSTIN, May 20, 2026

Energi Simulation, a Calgary-based not-for-profit organization, has committed an investment of $1,000,000 Canadian dollars over the next five years to support research on Sustainable Energy Expansion (EnergiX) at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin).

News Featured News

Process of enhanced oil recovery with slugs of a formate solution and carbon dioxide

Our research group has unveiled a promising new method that uses formate-based carbon carriers to boost oil recovery and improve carbon storage. Early simulations show this approach could recover up to 19.5% more oil while safely storing more carbon compared to traditional methods. Read the full article here.

Okuno Research Group

Our research group is committed to advancing sustainable energy ecosystems through a blend of fundamental and applied research. We specialize in subsurface energy resources and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). As the director of the Energi Simulation Industrial Affiliate Program on Sustainable Energy Expansion (EnergiX), I lead initiatives focused on developing innovative and practical solutions that propel the energy transition forward.

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Research Projects

Aqueous Nanobubble Dispersion for Enhanced Oil Recovery

This project aims to develop technologies for aqueous CO2 nanobubble (NB) dispersion for enhanced oil recovery from conventional and unconventional reservoirs. The central hypothesis in this project is that the CO2-rich phase generated near the fronts of oil displacement in CO2 NB injection can greatly enhance oil recovery. Previous studies on carbonated water injection (CWI) showed a markedly increased oil recovery factor upon breakthrough (RFBT) in comparison to the control experiment with brine with no CO2 when the CO2-rich phase was generated near the displacement fronts. CO2 NB is expected to promote this new mechanism of oil recovery by substantially increasing the CO2 concentration in water beyond the inherent solubility. Aqueous CO2 NB injection is also expected to be much simpler and less expensive than CO2 injection because a small amount of CO2 is injected as an effectively homogeneous aqueous fluid (e.g., 1 tonne of CO2 in 15 tonnes of brine).

Formate Species as Carbon and Energy Carriers for CCUS and Hydrogen Energy

The energy transition requires managing the global carbon balance with a large throughput of CO2 while shifting to less carbon intensive energy sources, such as hydrogen, in economically feasible, publicly acceptable ways. Many issues with processing CO2 and H2 come from their physical properties, their compression, transportation, and storage [e.g., H2 embrittlement]. Also, geological CO2 sequestration has various issues associated with the properties of CO2, such as low carbon density at low to moderate pressure, low mass density, low viscosity, immiscibility with water, and corrosivity [e.g., low pH near a CO2 plume]. In particular, CO2 injection often results in inefficient use of pore space in the formation under geophysical heterogeneities.