Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
Improved Oil Recovery Laboratory
One of the research groups using the new High Bay Research Facility is Department
of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering's Vladimir Alvarado and his Improved Oil Recovery
Laboratory. Alvarado’s group will benefit from the facility’s space, equipment and
collaborations.
The high-bay space will be used to test larger-scale flow experiments that are not
possible in traditional lab space. For instance, flow circuits for emulsions, foams
and polymeric solutions will be developed, and cooperation with colleagues will allow
testing of pilot-scale systems. The new spaces make it possible to process large volumes
of fluids and rock under better preservation conditions. This is absolutely essential
to conduct delicate experiments that are highly dependent upon compositional control.
In addition, equipment that was once scattered across campus due to space limitations
can now be centralized in one facility. The new building can attract additional funding
and top team members to collaborate on oil and gas improved recovery research. The
multidisciplinary collaborations, including with the future Geomechanical/Petrology
Laboratory lab in the High Bay Research Facility, can lead to new research lines.
That research will, in turn, benefit the state and beyond.
Discoveries and concepts developed through the associated programs can be, in many
cases, applied to reservoirs in Wyoming through entities such as the Enhanced Oil
Recovery Institute. Cooperation with oil and gas corporations in the U.S. and overseas
will enrich activities associated with the program. This in turn should launch intellectual
property development and bring returns to Wyoming.
