The Petroleum Research Center (PERC), which is an integral part of the Department of Chemical and Fuels Engineering at the University of Utah, is developing practical, cost-effective solutions to liquid hydrocarbon production, handling and transportation. PERC specifically works to understand problems related to the production, transportation and processing of waxy and asphaltenic crude oils, and alleviate those problems by developing a variety of methods and software tools (models) for the efficient and optimal production of oil and gas from underground reservoirs.

The Center is commercializing products in three areas:

1. Flow Assurance (tools to help keep oil products moving
   through pipelines)
2. Oil Simulants (environmentally safe yet accurate substitutes for crude oil)
3. Reservoir Simulators (finite-element models for optimizing production from geometrically complex oil and gas fields)

With funding from the U.S. DOE and the petroleum industry, the
PERC coordinates basic and applied research in the physical properties and physical and chemical thermodynamics of naturally occurring hydrocarbons.

Petroleum Research 00-01
Petroleum Research 01-02
Petroleum Research 02-03
Petroleum Research 03-04
Petroleum Research 04-05

Highlights

• 2 patents issued on Oil Simulants
• Pursuing copyrights on several software products - Chemometric Database and Finite Element Reservoir Simulator

Spin Out Companies

Benefiting Companies

• Systems Engineering and Simulation
• LT Industries
• Trans Alaskan Pipeline
• Exxon Mobil

Center's University Website and Contact Information