Principal Investigator: Dr. Ryosuke Okuno
https://www.ryosukeokuno.com/energix
The Energi Simulation Industrial Affiliate Program on Sustainable Energy Expansion, also referred to as EnergiX, is a research program at The University of Texas at Austin focused on developing practical and scientifically rigorous technologies for the next phase of subsurface energy and carbon management.
Led by Dr. Ryosuke Okuno, the program builds on the success of the previous Energi Simulation IAP on Carbon Utilization and Storage, which advanced research in enhanced oil recovery, carbon capture and storage, carbon conversion, alternative carbon carriers, nanobubble fluids, and geochemical modeling. The renewed program expands this foundation toward a broader vision of sustainable energy expansion: meeting growing energy demand while developing technologies that reduce carbon intensity, improve storage security, and accelerate industrial deployment.
The program’s core strength is a vertically integrated approach that combines high-pressure laboratory experimentation, thermodynamics, geochemistry, transport in porous media, and numerical reservoir simulation. This integration allows the research team to move from fundamental scientific questions to field-relevant applications in collaboration with industry sponsors.
Research Vision
Sustainable energy expansion requires both reliable energy supply and scalable carbon management. The Energi X program addresses this challenge through two connected pillars:
- Enhanced hydrocarbon recovery, with emphasis on improved recovery efficiency, reduced environmental impact, and field-deployable engineered fluids.
- Carbon management, including CO₂ capture, storage, mineralization, conversion, and alternative aqueous carbon carriers.
By connecting these areas, the program seeks to use existing subsurface-energy expertise and industrial infrastructure to support cleaner, more efficient, and more secure energy systems.
Major Projects
- Supersaturated-water EOR (a.k.a. high-pressure aqueous bubble dispersions)
- Ketone EOR
- Diverting agents for gas EOR in tight/shale formations
- Nanoparticles for EOR and CCS
- Well stimulation
- Alternative carbon carrier technologies (e.g., formate species)
- Advanced compositional reservoir simulation techniques
- CO2 capture and conversion
- CO2 mineralization
- Direct lithium extraction from produced brine
Member Companies
Cosmo Energy Exploration & Production
Energi Simulation
Formosa Petrochemical
INPEX
Japan Petroleum Exploration
Nissan Chemical and Occidental Petroleum
