The 4th CarbonUT Annual Meeting

The 4th Annual Meeting of the Energi Simulation IAP on Carbon Utilization and Storage convened at The University of Texas at Austin from May 8 – 9, 2025. The meeting was led by Energi Simulation Research Chair and Principal Investigator, Dr. Ryosuke Okuno. During the 2-day event, 12 technical presentations were showcased by his research team together with presentation from 1 external speaker.

Diverse topics presented include experimental and numerical modelling studies of nanobubble or formate/CO2 for EOR/CCS, CO2 mineralization, Ketone EOR, CO2 capture as bicarbonate pathway. A total of 49 researchers and sponsors, as well as 15 virtual participants engaged in stimulating technical discussions throughout the event.

Representatives in attendance from Sponsors and Industrial Companies includes: Energi Simulation, ENEOS Xplora Inc., Formosa Petrochemical Co., INPEX, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd., Nissan Chemical Corporation, Occidental Petroleum, SLB, 44.01, CNPC USA, Cosmo Energy Exploration & Production Co., Ltd., Power Environmental Energy Research Institute, Ultimate EOR Services, LLC, Texas State University, University of Alberta, ExxonMobil, and Chevron.

Presented topics:

1. Overview (Speaker: Ryosuke Okuno)
2. Ketone EOR for shale/tight formations (Speaker: Sunghyun Ko, Daniel Fuentes Ibarra)
3. Ketone EOR in high-salinity high-temperature carbonate formations (Speakers: Daniel Fuentes Ibarra, Sunghyun Ko)
4. Solvent methods to substantially reduce the energy intensity of heavy-oil recovery (Speaker: Hassan Amer)
5. Aqueous nanobubble dispersion of CO2 for EOR (Speakers: Tesleem Lawal and Hao Wang)
6. Phase-field modeling for accurate large-scale compositional simulation of CO2 sequestration (Speaker: Mary Wheeler)
7. Robust phase-chemical equilibrium calculations for compositional simulation of CO2 sequestration (Speaker: Oluwafemi P. Oyenowo)
8. Meter-scale sand tank experiments – the impact of wettability on CO2 plume migration (Speakers: Hailun Ni and Doguhan Barlas Sevindik)
9. Field pilots of carbon capture and mineralization in peridotite formations (Speaker: Quot Al Nabhani)
10. Enhanced CO2 mineralization by CO2 nanobubble and formate ligands (Speaker: Hao Wang)
11. pH plume migration and corrosion control in geologic CO2 sequestration (Speaker: Doguhan Barlas Sevindik)
12. CO2 capture as bicarbonate using surface active amines (Speakers: Omar A. Carrasco Jaim)
13. Electrochemically driven bicarbonate separation and amine regeneration (Speaker: Aayush Bendre)
14. Bicarbonate separation from produced brine and bicarbonate electrolysis (Speaker: Omar A. Carrasco Jaim and Alyssa Beekman)