Dr. Mohammad Piri (Ph.D. Petroleum Engineering, Imperial College London)
Wyoming Excellence Chair inPetroleum Engineering and Thomas and Shelley Botts Endowed Chair in Unconventional
Reservoirs in theCollege of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Alchemy Sciences Petroleum Engineering
Chair. In the 2022-2023 fiscal year, Prof. Piri and members of his research group disseminated
their research results
through approximately fifteen (15) papers published (or accepted for publication)
in peer-reviewed journals and
with approximately twenty (20) more manuscripts that are either submitted or in preparation.
Prof. Piri and his research team continued further development of the world’s most
advanced Center of Innovation for Flow through Porous Media (COIFPM) located at University
of Wyoming’s (UW) High Bay Research Facility. In this period, he, in close collaboration
with The Dow Chemical Company, established a $25 million (to be matched dollar-fordollar
to become $50 million) research and field pilot testing project that is titled ‘The
Wyoming Gas Injection Initiative (WGII)’. The Initiative has been approved to receive
the funds from the State of Wyoming (State) to implement, in close collaboration with
The Dow Chemical Company and oil and gas operators, multiple field pilot projects
in the State of Wyoming. The initiative involves field pilot testing of advanced enhanced
oil
recovery technologies, such as foam-assisted gas injection using recovered hydrocarbon
gases, carbon dioxide, or other gases, for revitalization of oil fields as well as
mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions by operations in the State. It also includes
laboratory-scale de-risking of the recovery schemes, both research and technical services
using site- specific rock and fluid samples at relevant field implementation conditions,
at the world-leading Center of Innovation for Flow through Porous Media of the University
of Wyoming. Both components (field pilot testing and laboratory-scale studies) will
receive funding to advance implementation. This grant will fund projects over a 3-to-5-year
period to enhance well productivity and recovery from existing fields/well in the
State that are in significant decline. The funding will support the operators for
field implementation and the university for the laboratory work. Prof. Piri’s external
research funding exceeds $24 million.
His research group currently includes twenty-seven (27) Ph.D. students, fourteen (14)
post-doctoral research
associates, and four (4) staff members. In this period, Prof. Piri recruited at least
ten (10) high-caliber Ph.D.
students, most of whom have significant opportunities to also learn from graduating
students. During the calendar
year 2022, COIFPM held numerous preliminary exams and final thesis defense sessions
for its Ph.D. students.
Prof. Piri graduated, in collaboration with his colleagues at UW, seven (7) Ph.D.
students. He taught two classes:
1) Flow through Porous Media and 2) Hydrogen Geostorage.
Prof. Piri’s specialty is multiphase flow through porous media with applications in
oil and gas recovery from unconventional and conventional reservoirs, pore-scale modeling
of displacement processes, wettability, CO2 sequestration and leakage, and Hydrogen
storage. Prof. Piri’s expertise and research findings have direct relevance to enhancing
oil and gas recovery from the reservoirs in the State of Wyoming and elsewhere. Since
joining UW in 2005, he has designed, installed, integrated, and commissioned three
unique research facilities that have put the University of Wyoming at the forefront
of research in the area of flow through porous media. These research facilities include
Encana Three-Phase Flow and Computed Tomography Research Laboratory, Hess Digital
Rock Physics Laboratory, and the Center of Innovation for Flow through Porous Media.
These platforms provide UW students with exceptionally rich research and educational
experiences that are seldom available elsewhere. Prof. Piri also leveraged these to
attract three new faculty members to the Petroleum Engineering program at UW. Furthermore,
he has been diligently working on commercialization of the technologies developed
in his research group at the University of Wyoming. This has been made possible by
a spin-off company, Piri Technologies, LLC, in Laramie, Wyoming. UW is an equity owner
of this company. This entity provides distinctive technical services in the broad
area of Flow through Porous Media. Through this initiative, Prof. Piri has established
an avenue for diversification of the economy in the State of Wyoming as well as creating
job opportunities for UW graduates and others. Since the start of its operations in
September 2017, Piri Technologies has developed several projects with large national
and international corporations. This indicates that its technologies are relevant
globally. It currently employs seven (7) full-time and three (3) part-time, highly
talented professionals with advanced degrees. Six (6) of these full-time employees
are University of Wyoming graduates. Furthermore, in March 2022, and in close collaboration
with UW, Prof. Piri founded a new company (Digital Pore Solutions, LLC) as a subsidiary
of Piri Technologies, LLC to commercialize software-based Intellectual Properties
conceived in his research group. The entity is focused on digitizing porous materials
and computing flow and transport in them. Prof. Piri successfully developed a series
of agreements with UW to formalize the initiative. The new company is focused on the
computational aspects of flow through porous media taking advantage of high-performance
computing and data processing and visualization techniques, state-of-the-art multi-GPU
systems, and other advanced methods and hardware. Prof. Piri is currently the President
of Piri Technologies and Digital Pore Solutions. Since the start of its operations
in mid-2022, Digital Pore Solutions has developed, in close collaboration with Piri
Technologies, several projects that are focused on application of Digital Rock Technologies
in real-world field development projects.
