Zhangxing (John) Chen Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo,China / University of Calgary, Canada
Title: Reservoir Simulator Development: The Past, Present and Future
Abstract: Reservoir simulators have been developed in the past 70 years. They have been widely used to predict, understand, and optimize complex physical processes in modeling and simulation of multiphase fluid flow in petroleum reservoirs. These simulators are important for understanding the fate and transport of chemical species and heat and maximizing the economic and environmental performance of exploration and production of fossil fuel energy.
The development of reservoir simulators has been concentrated on conventional oil and gas reservoirs in the last century, and efficient black oil, compositional and thermal simulators have been successful in their application to the recovery of conventional oil and gas resources. As these conventional resources dwindle, the recovery of unconventional oil and gas (such as heavy oil, oil sands, tight and shale oil and gas, and coalbed methane) resources is now at the center stage. While the development of unconventional reservoir simulators has been focused on in this century, a lot of challenges still exist because of the significant differences between conventional and unconventional reservoirs in their multi-scale phenomena, fluid occurrence states, flow mechanisms, and production technologies.
The speaker has engaged in the development of reservoir simulators for over 30 years. His group has developed parallel and intelligent simulators that can efficiently simulate complex fluid flow problems with giga (billion) grid block cells and reduce simulation time from days to seconds. For over ten years, his group has also incorporated artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing algorithms into these reservoir simulators. Fast and accurate simulators can increase energy production due to full utilization of available data and better understanding of the chemical and physical mechanisms involved, process designs and uncertainty analyses. In this plenary presentation, the speaker will give an overview on the development of conventional and unconventional reservoir simulators, the incorporation of parallel and AI algorithms into these simulators, and the quantum computing potential to solve reservoir simulation problems. The present status, existing challenges, and future prospects on reservoir simulators will be emphasized in this plenary presentation.
Bio: Professor Chen holds Chair Professorship at Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, China and NSERC/Energi Simulation Industrial Research Chair and Alberta Innovates Industrial Chair at the University of Calgary, Canada. His PhD (1991) is from Purdue University, USA. He has authored/co-authored 25 books, published over 1,100 research articles, and owned 41 patents. Dr. Chen is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Canadian Academy of Engineering and Energy Institute of Canada, and an Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and European Union Academy of Sciences. Dr. Chen has received numerous prestigious awards, such as The Friendship Medal of The People’s Republic of China, NSERC’s Synergy Award for Innovation, The Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Technology Award, IBM Faculty Award, Imperial Oil Research Award, Fields-CAIMS Prize, Gerald J. Ford Research Fellowship Award, and SPE’s Technical Excellence and Achievements Award. According to Elsevier Scopus, his publications have been ranked #1 in terms of the overall scholarship in reservoir simulation in the world. His research interest is in Reservoir Engineering, Reservoir Simulation and Hydrogen Production.
Susumu Kitagawa Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) Kyoto University, Japan
Title: Chemistry and Application of Soft Porous Crystals
Abstract: With the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, humans began to create technologies that consume huge amounts of energy. Initially, people used solid coal as an energy resource. In the 20th century, the focus changed to liquid petroleum. In the 21st century, where the depletion of petroleum has become a critical concern, gases (e.g., natural gas and biogas, and even air) should play important roles—an “age of gas” is dawning. However, a gas is a form that is difficult to handle because it is easily dispersed, creates mixtures, has a low concentration under normal conditions, and is invisible. In particular, new porous materials are indispensable for advancing science and technology to control gases at will. As the promising materials to address global issues of clean energy technologies and environmental sustainability, the emerging class of crystalline microporous materials, porous coordination polymers (PCPs) or metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), have been applied in fields of gas storage and separation, delivery vessel, sensors, catalysis, supercapacitors, FETs, batteries, proton conduction, and so on. We have found the 3rd generation (3G) PCPs/MOFs (Soft porous crystals, SPCs) that possess flexible or dynamic porous frameworks reversibly respond to external stimuli, not only chemical but also physical, unlike robust PCPs/MOFs (2G). In particular, by controlling the local motion of organic ligands that construct the framework, we discovered and developed an effective mechanism for separating gas mixtures with very similar properties, such as oxygen/argon, and light water/heavy water isotopologue mixtures. This talk provides an essential and accessible overview of the chemistry of SPCs, their current features, and the outlook of further developed materials as 4th generation PCPs/MOFs which exhibit multi-functions simultaneously or alternately in combination.
Bio: Susumu Kitagawa obtained a Ph.D. degree from Kyoto University. He is a distinguished professor at Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Science (KUIAS) and the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), at Kyoto University. He originated the science and technology of gas with porous coordination polymers (PCPs) and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). He predicted early on the softness of PCP/MOF crystals and demonstrated that their framework changes in response to external fields to express various functions such as storage, separation, and conversion. He named these materials soft porous crystals (SPC) as a more generic term and pioneered chemistry, which is now rapidly spreading to other porous materials. He showed a clear vision for research by categorizing PCP/MOF materials as evolving from the first- to second-generation type in the early days to the third-generation in SPC and now to the fourth-generation type. He has advocated that the 21st century will be the "age of gas," where gas will be a crucial material in all areas of the environment, energy, resources, and health, and porous materials will play an important role. He received the Japan Society of Coordination Chemistry Award (2007), the Humboldt Research Award (2008), The Chemical Society of Japan Award (2009), the Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate (Chemistry) (2010), The Medal with Purple Ribbon, the Japanese Government (2011), The RSC de Gennes Prize (2013), The 10th Leo Esaki Prize (2013). Japan Academy Award (2016) and ACS Fred Basolo Medal (2016), The 58th Fujihara Award (2017), and Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize (2017). Thomson Reuters and Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher (2014 - 2022). He is a member of the Japan Academy, a foreign member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS), an RSC fellow, and the honorary fellowship of the Council of the Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI).
Svetlana Mintova CNRS, Laboratory of Catalysis and Spectrochemistry (LCS), ENSICAEN, Normandy University, France
Title: Nanosized Zeolites with Exceptional Adsorption Properties
Abstract: The transition of the global energy system from traditional fossil fuels to renewable and sustainable energy sources and processes necessitates the development of new materials and the reinvention of existing ones. Zeolites will play a key role in facilitating this transition due to their exceptional qualities, which make them valuable in essential catalytic and adsorption processes, such as carbon capture and storage. The zeolites used in these processes consist of micrometer-scale particles. Consequently, small molecules must diffuse a distance approximately tens of thousands of times their own size through the particles. This results in a relatively large mass transfer zone within a fixed bed configuration, limiting the usable capacity in separation processes.
Nanozeolites offer several key advantages over their conventional micron-sized counterparts, such as high surface-to-volume ratios that provide greater access to more active sites, rapid diffusion properties, and rich chemistry. Furthermore, the direct synthesis using inorganic structure-directing agents ensures the formation of nanozeolites with uniform elemental composition and desirable adsorption properties, eliminating the need for post-synthetic calcination treatment.
In this presentation, I will discuss the synthesis of nanosized zeolites with various sizes, morphologies, and framework structures by tailoring the crystallization process. The diffusion properties of the nanosized zeolites were studied through breakthrough curve analysis, revealing exceptionally sharp curves indicative of rapid diffusion due to the nanosized crystals and desired morphology. The unique adsorption properties of nanozeolites make them interesting candidates for gas separation applications in humid streams.
Acknowledgments: This research was co-funded by the European Union (ERC, ZEOLIghT, 101054004). The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. The author acknowledges the Label of Excellence: Centre for Zeolites and Nanoporous Materials supported by the Region of Normandy (CLEAR).
Bio: Svetlana Mintova is the Director of Research (DR1) at CNRS, LCS-ENSICAEN-Normandy University and Head of the Centre for Zeolites and Nanoporous Materials. The focus of her research is in the fields of porous materials and physical chemistry with expertise in the synthesis of zeolites, advanced characterizations and their applications in catalysis, separation, chemical sensors, membranes and biomedicine. She is also Visiting Professor in China University of Petroleum (UPC), President of the International Zeolite Association (IZA), President of the European Zeolite Associations Federation (FEZA), and Chair of the “Synthesis Commission”. She is the Associate Editor of Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers (RSC) and Editor of Microporous Mesoporous Materials (Elsevier) and receiver of the ERC Advanced Grant 2022.
Title: Multiscale Considerations on Porous Media Heat Transfer
Abstract: Heat transfer in porous media is ubiquitous in many industrial applications, such as heat exchangers, heat pipes, heat storage system, and porous coatings for thermal radiation. Thus, it is of great importance to understand in depth the heat transfer in porous media. This, however, is still a huge challenge, mainly attributed to the following fact. First, heat transfer in porous media is a process involving multi scales. The pores in porous media can be multi scales, ranging from nano to milli meters; and the heat transfer in each pore of porous media controls the continuum- (macro) scale heat transfer in porous media. Second, heat transfer in porous media include multiple interactions, e.g., the interaction at the interfaces between fluids and solid matrix of porous media in single phase convection, interaction at the interface between fluids of different phases in phage change heat transfer, and heat transfer between solid matrix in thermal radiation. Thus, a multi scale exploration, from interface- to pore- and continuum-scale, is needed so as to disclose in detail the mechanisms of heat transfer in porous media. In this talk, we will introduce our recent multi-scale studies on the sing-phase convection, phase change heat transfer, and thermal radiation in porous media. As for the single-phase convection, the thermal non-equilibrium effects in forced and natural convection in porous media are clarified from the pore- and continuum-scale perspectives; and the permeability for natural convection is discussed. As for the gas-liquid and liquid-solid phase change heat transfer in porous media, the movement of phase interfaces in the nano- and micro-pores of porous media is disclosed, and its effects on the continuum-scale heat transfer is revealed. As for the thermal radiation heat transfer in porous media, a multiscale framework is established, which can account for the dependent scattering effects at microscale and the coherent effects of multiple scattering at mesoscale; based on this framework, an accurate prediction of macroscale radiative properties of various densely packed porous media is achieved. Furthermore, the role of far-field and near-field interferences in the wave aspects of thermal radiation transfer is quantitatively revealed.
Bio: Prof. Changying Zhao is the Chair Professor, the Director of Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, and the Dean of China-UK Low Carbon College of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Prof. Zhao’s research interests mainly cover micro/nano-scale heat transfer, thermal radiation and metamaterial energy devices, advanced energy and hydrogen storage, and phase change heat transfer in porous media. He has published over 260 high-quality papers in prestigious journals like Nature Materials, Physical Review Letters, Nano Letters, Physical Review B, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Annual Review of Heat Transfer, Energy and Environmental Science, etc., which are cited more than 16000 times in total. He has also been one of the Most Cited Chinese Researchers by Elsevier every year since 2014 and he has been granted more than 40 invention patents. Prof. Zhao was awarded the William Begell Medal in 2023 for his excellence in thermal science and engineering based on his lifetime achievements, and Shanghai Natural Science Award (First Class) in 2020. Moreover, he was awarded twice the Best Paper Award of the ASME Micro/Nanoscale Heat and Mass Transfer International Conference held in 2013 and 2019, respectively. Prof. Zhao serves as a member of the Scientific Council of International Center for Heat and Mass Transfer (ICHMT), Founding Fellow and Executive Board Member of the Asian Union of Thermal Sciences and Engineering (AUTSE), Vice Director of Heat Transfer Society of China, as well as Board Member of the Nukiyama Memorial Award. Prof. Zhao is also the Editor-in-Chief of Carbon Neutrality, Associate Editor of Thermal Science and Engineering Progress, as well as Editorial Board Member of several other distinguished journals.
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