UAF, Purdue students win engineering challenge
December 16, 2014
907-451-4023
12/16/2014
A team from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Purdue University has won a student contest to design a way to extract North Slope heavy oil.
UAF students Max Martell and Stephen Nemethy III, working with Sally Ann Keyes of Purdue University, won the 2014 UAF Petroleum Engineering Challenge. UAF eLearning and Distance Education will award the winning team $2,000 for its successful submission.
The challenge drew more than 75 participants, and submissions involved collaboration across 14 institutions. Teams were required to have representation from multiple colleges.
Students were given a scenario involving a typical North Slope reservoir with thick, dense oil that isn't easily extracted with traditional production wells. Dealing with the permanently frozen ground was an additional obstacle.
"The idea behind our design is simple: If it’s frozen, keep it frozen,” Martell said. "By producing the oil with fluids that are below freezing (such as liquid CO2), the permafrost will remain frozen.”
The link to their full proposal can be found here.
“This project has given us the opportunity to apply knowledge from our coursework to a real-world application,” Martell added.
To help facilitate collaboration, UAF assistant professor of petroleum engineering Obadare Awoleke created a Google+ online community, Petroleum Engineering Research, where students made introductions, connected with team members, and submitted their proposals. Though created for the challenge, Petroleum Engineering Research will continue as a collaborative community for petroleum engineers and students. There are now more than 170 members.
Awoleke created this challenge as a faculty member in the Chancellor’s Innovation in Technology and Elearning program, which supports innovative faculty and teaching methods at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Submissions to the engineering challenge were carefully reviewed by instructors in the University of Alaska Fairbanks Petroleum Engineering Department and UAF eLearning and Distance Education professionals, as well as BP and ConocoPhillips engineers.
“I was impressed,” says Greg Hobbs, ConocoPhillips staff drilling engineer. “They all need to be proud of their efforts and inputs. The strong thought processes, creativity and problem-solving skills illustrated by the challenge were numerous.”
The reviewers noted innovative techniques like the use of thermosyphons or liquid CO2 as a stimulation fluid.
Based on its success, Awoleke plans to continue this challenge annually.
Universities participating in the challenge with either students or reviewers included:
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Clausthal University of Technology, Germany
Colorado School of Mines
Kansas State University
Marietta University
Purdue University
Rice University
Texas A&M University
University of Alaska Fairbanks
University of Houston
University of Notre Dame
University of Tulsa
University of Utah
West Virginia University
ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Owen Guthrie, 907-479-4768, obguthrie@alaska.edu
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