Quarterly Reports

Topical Reports

• Utah Heavy Oil Program
  • Final scientific/technical report
  • Appendix A: Analysis of environmental, legal, socioeconomic and policy issues critical to the development of commercial oil shale leasing on the public lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming under the mandates of the Energy Policy Act of 2005
  • Appendix B: Depositional heterogeneity and fluid flow modeling of the oil shale interval of the upper Green River Formation, eastern Uinta Basin, Utah
  • Appendix C: In-situ production of Utah oil sands
  • Appendix D: Meeting data needs to perform a water impact assessment for oil shale development in the Uinta and Piceance Basins
  • Appendix E: Integrated treatment of produced water by chemical and biological unit operations
• Liquid fuels from in-situ thermal processing of oil shale & oil sands
  • V/UQ of Generation 1 simulator with AMSO experimental data
  • Development of CFD-based simulation tools for in situ thermal processing of oil shale/sands
  • Core-based integrated sedimentologic, stratigraphic, & geochemical analysis of the oil shale bearing Green River Formation, Uinta Basin, Utah
  • Atomistic modeling of oil shale kerogens and asphaltene along with their interactions with the inorganic mineral matrix
  • Pore scale analysis of oil shale/sands pyrolysis
• Environmental, legal, & policy issues
  • A market assessment of oil shale and oil sands development scenarios in Utah's Uinta Basin
  • Policy analysis of Canadian oil sands experience
  • Lands with wilderness characteristics, resource management plan constraints, and land exchanges: Cross-jurisdictional management and impacts on unconventional fuel development in Utah's Uinta Basin
  • Conjunctive surface and groundwater management in utah: Implications for oil shale and oil sands development
  • Policy analysis of produced water issues associate with in-situ thermal technologies
  • Land and resource management issues relevant to deploying in-situ thermal technologies
  • Policy analysis of water availability and use issues for domestic oil shale and oil sands development
  • A technical, economic, and legal assessment of North American heavy oil, oil sands, and oil shale resources

Publications

Journal Publications

Kelly, K.E., Wilkey, J. E. Spinti, J. P., Ring, T. A., Pershing, D. W. (2014). Oxyfiring with CO2 capture to meet low-carbon fuel standards for unconventional fuels from Utah. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 22 (2014) 189–199.

Tiwari, P., Deo, M., Lin, C. L. & Miller, J.D. (2013). Characterization of oil shale pore structure before and after pyrolysis by using X-ray micro CT. Fuel, 107, 547-554.

Hillier, J. L., Fletcher, T. H., Solum, M. S. & Pugmire, R. J. (2013). Characterization of macromolecular structure of pyrolysis products from a Colorado Green River oil shale. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 52(44), 15522-15532.

Solum, M. S., Mayne, C. L., Orendt, A. M., Pugmire, R. J., Hall, T., Fletcher, T. H. (2013). Characterization of macromolecular structure elements from a Green River oil shale. (I. Extracts), Energy & Fuels (web).

Orendt, Anita M.; Pimienta, Ian S.O.; Badu, Shyam R.; Solum, Mark S.; Pugmire, Ronald J.; Facelli, Julio C.; Locke, Darren R.; Chapman, Karena W.; Chupas, Peter J.; Winans, Randall E. (2013). Three-dimensional structure of the Siskin Green River oil shale kerogen model: A comparison between calculated and observed properties. Energy & Fuels, 27 (2), 702-710.

Badu, Shyam; Pimienta, Ian S.O.; Orendt, Anita M.; Pugmire, Ronald J.; Facelli, Julio C. (2012). Modeling of asphaltenes: Assessment of sensitivity of 13C SSNMR to molecular structure. Energy & Fuels, 26 (4), 2161-2167.

Bauman, J. & Deo, M. (2012). Simulation of a conceptualized combined pyrolysis, in situ combustion, and CO2 storage strategy for fuel production from Green River oil shale. Energy & Fuels, 26(3), 1731-1739.

Tiwari, Pankaj; Deo, Milind (2012). Compositional and kinetic analysis of oil shale pyrolysis using TGA-MS. Fuel, 94, 333-341.

Ruple, J. (2011). Clear law and murky facts: Utah's approach to conjunctive surface and groundwater management. Idaho Law Review, 47, 217-254.

Tiwari, P.; Deo, M. (2011). Detailed kinetic analysis of oil shale pyrolysis TGA data. AICHE Journal, 58(2), 505-515.

Bauman, J. H.; Deo, M. D. (2011). Parameter space reduction and sensitivity analysis in complex thermal subsurface production processes. Energy & Fuels, 25, 251-259.

Ruple, John C.; Keiter, Robert B. (2010). Water for commercial oil shale development in Utah: Allocating scarce resources and the search for new sources of supply. Journal of Land, Resources and Environmental Law, 30 (1), 95-143.

Ruple, John C.; Keiter, Robert B. (2010, February). Water for commercial oil shale development in Utah: Clarifying how much water is needed and available. Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law, 28 (1), 49-86.

Conference Presentations

Hradisky, M., Smith, P. J. & Burnham, A. (2013, October). High performance computing simulations of in-situ thermal treatment of oil shale. 33rd Oil Shale Symposium, Golden, CO, October 14-16, 2013.

Fletcher, T. H., Gillis, R., Adams, J., Mayne, C. L., Solum, C. S. & Pugmire, R. J. (2013, October). Characterization of pyrolysis products from a Utah Green River oil shale by 13C NMR, GC/MS/ and FTIR. 33rd Oil Shale Symposium, Golden, CO, October 14-16, 2013.

Solum, M., Mayne, C., Orendt, A., Pugmire, R., Hall, T. (2013, October). Characterization of macromolecular structure elements from a Green River oil shale. 33rd Oil Shale Symposium, Golden, CO, October 14-16, 2013.

Wilkey, J., Spinti, J., Hogue, M., Uchitel, K., Ring, T., Kelly, K. & Ruple, J. (2013, October). Economic assessment of oil shale development scenarios in the Uinta Basin. 33rd Oil Shale Symposium, Golden, CO, October 14-16, 2013.

Smith, P. (2013, May). High performance computing in unconventional fuel production. University of Utah Unconventional Fuels Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, May 7, 2013.

Spinti, J. (2013, May). Assessment of unconventional fuels development costs. University of Utah Unconventional Fuels Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, May 7, 2013.

Birgenheier, L. (2013, May). Constructing a basin-scale geologic model. University of Utah Unconventional Fuels Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, May 7, 2013.

Burnham, Alan K. (2012, May). First results and simulation of AMSO's RD&D process tests. University of Utah Unconventional Fuels Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, May 15, 2012.

Fletcher, Thomas H. (2012, May). Oil shale pyrolysis kinetics and product characterization. University of Uah Unconventional Fuels Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, May 15, 2012.

Ruple, John (2012, May). Lands with wilderness characteristics: Impacts on oil shale and oil sands development. University of Utah Unconventional Fuels Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, May 15, 2012.

Facelli, Julio; Orendt, Anita; Pimienta, Ian; Badu, Shyam; Pugmire, Ronaldi. (2011, October). Atomistic modelling of oil shale kerogens and asphaltenes. 31st Oil Shale Symposium.

Orendt, Anita M.; Birgenheier, Lauren P.; Solum, Mark S.; Facelli, Julio C.; Pugmire, Ronald J.; Locke, Darren; Chapman, Karena; Seifert, Soenke; Winans, Randall; Chupas, Peter. (2011, October). Detailed characterization of green river oil shale segments and isolated kerogen.

Orendt, Anita M.; Birgenheier, Lauren P.; Solum, Mark S.; Pugmire, Ronald J.; Facelli, Julio C.; Locke, Darren; Chapman, Karena; Seifert, Soenke; Winans, Randall; Chupas, Peter. (2011, October). Structural characterization of Green River oil shale core segments and the kerogen isolated from these segments. 31st Oil Shale Symposium.

Theses

Rosenberg, Morgan Joshua (2013, August). Facies, stratigraphic architecture, and lake evolution of the oil shale bearing Green River Formation, Eastern Uinta Basin, Utah The University of Utah.

Bauman, Jacob H. (2012, August). Significant parameter identification and characterization of complex in situ reservoir simulations. The University of Utah.

Wilkey, Jonathan E. (2012, May). Evaluation of the economic feasibility of heavy oil production processes for West Sak field. The University of Utah.

Castro-Dominguez, Bernardo. (2012, August). Unconventional oil market assessment: Ex-situ oil shale. The University of Utah.

Hsieh, Ching Hao. (2012, May). Procedure and analysis of mineral samples using high resolution x-ray micro tomography. The University of Utah.

Tiwari, Pankaj. (2012, August). Oil shale pyrolysis: benchscale experimental studies and modeling. The University of Utah.