About Us
Based on reservoir properties and fluid compressibility, only 20 to 40 percent of the original oil in place (OOIP) can be recovered using primary and secondary recovery techniques. The remaining 30 to 60 percent of the stranded oil can only be recovered via tertiary or Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) processes such as thermal recovery, gas injection, chemical injection and microbial process. The EOR Lab, supported by Pioneer Oil Company, focuses on multidisciplinary research approaches, including chemistry, geochemistry, clay and mineral science, chemical and materials engineering, and petroleum engineering, to understand the solid-liquid and liquid-liquid interfacial properties for the tertiary recovery of stranded oil. Dr. Schultheiss directs the facility to provide professional service for EOR method evaluation and design using the state-of-the-art laboratory facilities and reservoir simulation. The laboratory is also committed to train graduate and undergraduate students and to advance interdisciplinary research collaborations within and outside Purdue University.
Our Team
Nate Schultheiss, PhD
Lab Director & Director of Unconventional Energy
(765) 586-4382 | nschulth@purdue.edu
Past Team Members
Jaeyub Chung, PhD
Project: Oil-Water Mixtures and IFT
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Scholar
Anthony Maquet
Project: Surfactants
Current Position: ADM
Shabrina Nurfitriani, MEng
Project: EOR Surfactant Formulations
Current Position: Unknown
Katherine Wehde, PhD
Project: Miniaturized core flood system design & testing
Current Position: Covance
Xueming Dong, PhD
Project: Miniaturized core flood system design & testing
Current Position: NREL
Tim Henderson, MS
Project: Petroleum geology, mineralogy, and reservoir characterization
Current Position: National Park Service
Ben Daum, MEng
Project: SP formulation design for Kentucky oilfields
Current Position: Engineer at AdvanSix
Andrew Dodd
Project: Miniaturized core flood surfactant testing
Current Position: Barry-Wehmiller Design Group
Winson Chang
Project: Oil Field Water Treatment
Current Position: Dominion Energy
Ben Furtney
Project: Oil Field Gas Injection
Current Position: Unknown