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Dr. Luis E. Zerpa - Associate Professor

Dr. Zerpa is an Associate Professor and Associate Department Head of the Petroleum Engineering Department of the Colorado School of Mines, and Director of the Center for Rock and Fluid Multiphysics. Dr. Zerpa received his B.S. (2001) and M.S. (2004) degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Zulia (Venezuela) and Ph.D (2013) in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He was a member of the Applied Computing Institute of the University of Zulia for 8 years before joining the Colorado School of Mines. He has been working on reservoir engineering research for over 20 years and in hydrate research for over 15 years covering experimental and modeling work of hydrates in nature and in flow assurance. Dr. Zerpa’s research combines experimental and modeling evaluation of multiphysical properties of rocks, fluids, and their interactions with applications to petroleum reservoir engineering, geothermal, and CCUS.

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GRADUATE STUDENTS
  • Christopher Brock (PhD Student – co-advised with Dr. Carolyn Koh)
  • Luiz Dalla (PhD Student)
  • Abdullah Dashti (MS Student)
  • Kiser Lee (MS Student)
  • Ali Nassereddine (MS Student)
  • Seetharaman (Seetu) Nvaneetha Kannan (PhD Student – co-advised with Dr. Carolyn Koh)
  • Daniel Rathmaier (PhD Student)
  • Anqi Qu (PhD Student – co-advised with Dr. Carolyn Koh)
FORMER GROUP MEMBERS

Afrah Siddique, MS (2023)

Thesis: “Evaluation of a wettability modifier additive on improving oil recovery in fractured reservoirs”

Marshall Pickarts, PHD (2022)

Thesis: “Gas hydrate deposition & remediation during continuous/transient operations” – Co-advised with Dr. Carolyn Koh. [Abstract/Details]

Hal Riyami, PhD (2022)

Thesis: “Investigation into the effect of temperature on nitrogen foam behavior”. [Abstract/Details]

Ahmed Mansour, PhD (2021)

Thesis: “Breaking the barrier of drilling automation: Measuring the distance drilled at the bottom of the well using an imaging while drilling tool” – Co-advised with Dr. Jorge Sampaio. [Abstract/Details]

Daniel Judmaier, MS (2021)

Thesis: “Multiscale modeling of gas hydrate formation in oil reservoirs”. [Abstract/Details]

Santiago Rocha, MS (2021)

Thesis: “Feasibility study of closed-loop geothermal heat extraction concepts using reservoir simulation”. [Abstract/Details]

Hao Qin, PHD (2020)

Thesis: “Hydrate film growth and risk management in oil/gas pipelines using experiments, simulations, and machine learning” – Co-advised with Dr. Carolyn Koh. [Abstract/Details]

Bianca Geranutti, MS (2020)

Thesis: “Investigation of gas hydrate formation during sea water injection based on undersaturated oil core flooding experiments” [Abstract/Details]

Daniel Croce, PHD (2020)

Dissertation: “Intermittent gas lift for liquid loaded horizontal wells in tight shale gas reservoirs”. [Abstract/Details]

Zhijun (Julian) Liu, PHD (2020)

Dissertation: “Molecular sieving of hydrocarbon mixtures through nano-porous membranes” – Co-advised with Dr. Erdal Ozkan. [Abstract/Details]

YAN WANG, PHD (2019)

Dissertation: “The Development and Application of Hydrate Formation, Transportation and Bedding Models in Liquid-Dominated Systems” – Co-advised with Dr. Carolyn Koh. [Abstract/Details]

VISHAL SRIVASTAVA, PHD (2018)

Dissertation: “Quantitative Risk Modeling of Hydrate Particle Bedding in Oil and Gas Pipelines using Mechanistic, Statistical and Artificial Neural Network Frameworks” – Co-advised with Dr. Carolyn Koh. [Abstract/Details]

LUIS SERVIN, MS (2018)

Thesis: “Rich Gas Injection Pilot: An Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Approach Applied to an Unconventional Reservoir in the Bakken Petroleum System”. [Abstract/Details]

JAGMIT SINGH, MS (2018)

Thesis: “Nozzle Design and Experimental Evaluation to Mitigate Liquid Loading in Gas Wells”. [Abstract/Details]

NERINE JOEWONDO, MS (2018)

Thesis: “Pore Structure of Micro- and Mesoporous Mudrocks based on Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide Sorption” – co-advised with Dr. Manika Prasad. [Abstract/Details]

ALBERTO RAMIREZ, MS (2017)

Thesis: “Numerical Investigation of Polymer Injection Effects on Geomechanical Reservoir Properties during Enhanced Oil Recovery”. [Abstract/Details]

ZHIJIAN LIU, PHD (2017)

Dissertation: “Study of Hydrate Deposition and Sloughing of Gas-Dominated Pipelines using Numerical and Analytical Models”. [Abstract/Details]

PIYUSH CHAUDHARI, PHD (2016)

Dissertation: “Development of Hydrate Risk Quantification in Oil and Gas Production” – Co-advised with Dr. Amadeu Sum. [Abstract/Details]

MENGNAN ZHOU, MS (2016)

Thesis: “Optimization of Well Configuration for a Sedimentary Enhanced Geothermal Reservoir” [Abstract/Details]

FANGYU GAO, MS (2015)

Thesis: “An Analytical Solution and Numerical Modeling Study of Gas Hydrate Saturation Effects on Porosity and Permeability of Porous Media” [Abstract/Details]

JAEKYOUNG CHO, MS (2015)

Thesis: “Feasibility Study of Sedimentary Enhanced Geothermal Systems Using Reservoir Simulation” [Abstract/Details]