WSU, daytaOhio to help state find oil
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Geological Survey is working with Wright State University and daytaOhio, an Ohio Wright Center of Innovation, on geological research that could possibly find and draw oil, the department said today, Dec. 10.
Wright State University and daytaOhio will help the Division of Geological Survey in investigating the efficiency of enhanced oil recovery projects in Ohio, the state department said. The partnership will use the "latest computer technologies in geological mapping, modeling and visualization, which will improve the processing and analysis of geologic and seismic data. The state will use the technology to assist in analyzing oil field data to determine the efficacy of (oil recovery) in specific Ohio reservoirs," the department said.
The goal is to recover "otherwise unattainable oil resources from a reservoir," the state said.
"Our partnership with Wright State and daytaOhio will provide additional expertise and technological tools to help identify sites where (oil recovery) is practicable," Larry Wickstrom, chief of the Ohio Geological Survey, said in the state's announcement. Noting that there are several energy projects planned for Ohio that could produce large quantities of pure carbon dioxide, Wickstrom said that "Ohio is looking for ways to use the carbon dioxide byproduct to make existing oil fields more productive and profitable, while safely securing the carbon dioxide in the deep subsurface."
The current partnership is part of a grant through the U.S. Department of Energy with Ohio River Clean Fuels.
"This project is an additional return on the state's investments in the center's sophisticated visualization and seismic interpretation technologies," Terry Rapoch, daytaOhio president, said in the announcement.
daytaOhio, based at Wright State's campus in Fairborn, specializes in visualization technologies.
