TORP Expands Research Efforts

Stephen Johnson joined TORP as a postdoctoral researcher at the beginning of January this year. He is working with Professor Jenn-Tai Liang on a joint TORP/DOE project to assess the use of biosurfactants to improve oil production from carbonate rocks. It is hoped that the use of low-cost surfactants produced by bacteria grown on agricultural waste will be an economical way to improve production, while turning a waste stream into an asset. Stephen has a B.Sc. in biology and an MS in environmental diagnostics from his native England, and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering (bioremediation) from the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland.

 

Mary Cordova was recently hired as a postdoctoral researcher for TORP . Her plans are to develop research in polymer projects that will benefit the oil and gas operators in Kansas . Prior to joining TORP , Mary was Section Head of Materials Science at Universidad de Oriente , Venezuela , in charge of research activities in polymers and characterization of materials using spectroscopic techniques. She holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Universidad Central de Venezuela, an MS in Physical Organic Chemistry from Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas (IVIC), and a BS degree in chemistry from Universidad de Oriente. Her experience includes surfactants for oil recovery and a Doctoral Thesis on polymer systems for water shut-off.

 

TORP Research Engineer Chairs SPE Symposium

Stan McCool, Associate Scientist with TORP, chaired the Program Committee for the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ 2005 International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry. The symposium was held February 2-4 in Houston, TX.

 

 

Min Cheng, TORP graduate student, presented paper SPE 93354 “ Modeling of Pre-Gel Aggregate Growth During the Gelation of a Polyacrylamide-Chromium(III) Acetate Gel System Using the Theory of Branching Processes.” Paul Willhite, Jenn-Tai Liang and Steve Johnson also attended the symposium. “ TORP was represented well, the symposium was superb and Min gave a fine presentation of her research work,” remarked Jenn-Tai.

 

 

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