Margot Gerritsen

My main research area is design of efficient numerical algorithms for compositional and thermal fluid flow processes in porous media. I’m especially interested in Enhanced Oil Recovery processes: the more oil recovery processes can be optimized, the better we’re off - both in terms of available resources as well as the environment.

I co-direct two research centers: SUPRI-C and CESIC.

SUPRI-C specializes in gas injection processes and carbon sequestration. Most of my students are active in this area. We developed a parallel compositional streamline solver, and are in the process of making this fully adaptive, both in the pressure solve and in the streamline solver. Along the way, we developed new algorithms for the pressure solve on cell-based adaptive grids, new transmissibility upscaling techniques for both two-point fluxes and multi-point flux approximations, and several new schemes for the strongly nonlinear transport equations.

The new Center of Excellence for Simulation of In-situ Combustion (CESIC) was founded in 2008, sponsored by Schlumberger. It specializes in experimentation and simulation of in-situ combustion processes (ISC). ISC is a very attractive recovery method for heavy oil and can help unlock the tremendous heavy oil resources in the world in an environmentally friendly way.