Researchers from the Paraffin Deposition Projects (TUPDP) housed in The University of Tulsa’s College of Engineering & Computer Science recently received the Partners in Progress and Prosperity Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS). The award honors partnerships within the ACS Southwestern Region that advance chemistry, career development, advocacy and education.
The UTulsa researchers include Cem Sarica, Ph.D., Stevenson Distinguished Presidential Chair in Petroleum Engineering and director of TUPDP, and Nagu Daraboina, Ph.D., associate professor of chemical engineering and associate director of TUPDP. TUPDP conducts experiments of deposition physics, using results from their studies to predict paraffin depositions in single and two-phase flow environments. Paraffin is a colorless solid derived from petroleum, consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules. This award confirms the project’s role in promoting career advancement opportunities, particularly through training graduate students who frequently transition into roles with corporate sponsors.
“TUPDP is an excellent example of industry-academia collaboration driven by the industry’s needs,” Sarica said. “It was a tremendous experience for me as a young researcher then to be part of forming a unique industry-university partnership. Over the years with many projects and graduate students, TUPDP has accomplished its mission to solve an important impediment for the industry.”
“Through several graduate-led projects and a robust portfolio of industry-sponsored studies, TUPDP has bridged laboratory experimentation with real-world applications. This is something few research programs achieve at this scale,” Daraboina said.
TUPDP was established by Jeffrey J. McDougall Eminent Chair Professor in Petroleum Engineering James P. Brill, Ph.D., NAE, in 1994 with other petroleum engineering pioneers, including co-founder of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Flow Assurance Technical Section Jeff Creek and Vicky Niessen of ConocoPhillips.
For more information about the project, visit https://www.tupdp.org/.