Fossil Fuel Bioprocessing
programs
MEHR: Modeling and Monitoring
MEHR -- Microbially Enhanced Hydrocarbon Recovery -- involves a broad diversity of metabolic processes that act either individually or cooperatively to improve hydrocarbon production and energy yields, and reduce the environmental footprint. An in-depth understanding of these metabolic processes and the controlling parameters comes from focused interdisciplinary research into model organisms or communities known to perform the relevant functions.
Monitoring and Modeling: The program will ensure successful translation of laboratory-derived MEHR strategies into practice at the reservoir scale. It will do this by developing approaches to remotely monitor MEHR-induced biogeochemical transformations at the reservoir scale and developing reservoir-scale reactive transport simulators that can be used to optimize MEHR treatment design and implementation. The program will advance process understanding from pore to reservoir scales, which is critical for ensuring the successful, production-scale implementation of the MEHR treatments.