About Us
SUETRI-A is a university-industry consortium focused on education and cross-cutting research to enable the energy transition. The SUETRI-A mission is twofold. First, the next generation of energy science engineers are educated and trained. They are a primary mode of knowledge transfer. Second, we conduct a spectrum of research relevant to the transition to net-zero energy technologies with a particular focus on subsurface engineering. We believe that the subsurface will play a significant role in our transition to net-zero emissions technologies by providing pore space for storage of carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and/or compressed air. Likewise, subsurface energy resources such as natural gas will continue to be critical to the energy system and the impact of such resources will decrease over time with improved production practices, minimization of leaks, and capture & storage of resulting carbon dioxide. Our spectrum of research includes the reservoir engineering of storage formations (CO2 & H2), chemical and mechanical durability of formation seals, mechanical response of geological formations undergoing injection, and utilization of carbon dioxide in the upstream value chain including enhanced recovery. A suite of imaging, simulation, and machine learning approaches are employed. Our research has impact across near-, mid-, and long-term time frames.
Principal Investigator and Key Technical Staff
Tony Kovscek is a Professor of Energy Science and Engineering, senior fellow with the Precourt Institute for Energy, and has directed SUETRI-A since 1996.
Our lab is supported by several research staff members:
- Bolivia Vega is a Research Associate. She holds an MS in Petroleum Engineering from Stanford and BS in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar.
- Cindy Ross is a Research Associate. She holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Geology from the University of South Carolina.
- Tae Wook (Elliot) Kim is a Research Associate. He holds B.S and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Inha University and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Southern California.
Click here to see the students and staff also affiliated with SUETRI-A.
Research
Subsurface engineering motivates the SUETRI-A core areas of expertise including laboratory-scale in-situ visualization of complex transport processes and deformation of porous media; convective heat transfer; the interplay of chemistry, phase behavior, reaction, mechanics, and transport processes across length scales. We have adopted a pore to core to field to basin approach.
Current research area within SUETRI-A include:
Expertise
Our lab has expertise in the following topics and laboratory techniques:
- Screening, ranking, and planning of subsurface storage projects
- Formation evaluation for geological storage projects
- Visualization of convective and diffusive transport mechanisms in porous media using X-ray computed tomography and microfluidic devices
- Characterization of transport properties of shale, mudstones, marls, and other unconventional rocks under representative stress
- Reactive coreflood experiments visualized with X-ray computed tomography to understand dissolution and precipitation reactions that evolve seal material exposed to nonequilibrated fluids
- Construction and use of microfluidic devices (micromodels) for direct visualization of flow and mobility control of carbon dioxide and hydrogen in porous media
- Multiscale imaging of porous media using x-ray tomography and electron microscopy features and estimation of permeability directly from resulting images
- Measurement of mechanical properties of unconventional rocks under true triaxial conditions with visualization of in situ strain
- Formation-scale distribution of heterogeneous in situ stress
Support
SUETRI-A is funded through university and industry consortium. Industry partners include both domestic and international oil companies. Membership in the SUETRI-A Subsurface Enginnering for Sustainable Energy is open to everyone. The membership fee is $45,000 per year, renewed annually, although we are interested in multiple-year, long-term interactions. The membership fee is used primarily to support graduate students post-doctoral fellows, and computer facilities.These companies take an active part in the yearly advisory committee meeting, usually held in April, and have advanced access to reports and publications.
Affiliates may send 1-2 representatives to Stanford University to carry out collaborative research NTE 1 year.
Current sponsors:
For information on joining the consortium, please contact Prof. Kovscek. Please read the Stanford University Policies Affecting Industrial Affiliates Program Memberships here.
Release of Computer Code
SUETRI-A will from time to time use and develop open-source software, and it is the intention of SUETRI-A that any software will be released under an open source model, if SUETRI-A is legally able to do so.