People

20230514_221047632_iOS2

Screenshot 2024-10-01 at 20-39-01 Graduate Students Oklahoma State University
Shaluka Senevirathna
PhD Student (2024.8~)

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Marwa Elshebli
PhD Student (2023.8~)
M. Elshebli, J. Vilcáez, J. Smay. Lithium and cobalt recovery from petroleum produced water using dolomite: impact of pH, temperature, and surface area. Science of the Total Environment, Vol 1003, 2025, Article 180743. doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180743.

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Chinanu Unigwe
PhD Student (2023.1~)
C. Unigwe, J. Vilcáez. Dolomite filtration for lithium and cobalt recovery from produced water: Feasibility and mechanistic insights. Hydrometallurgy, Vol. 243, 2026, Article 106746. doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2026.106746.

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Emranul Chowdhury
MS student (2023.1 2024.12)
PhD student at Virginia Tech (2025.1~)
J. Vilcáez, E. Chowdhyry. Biogenic hydrogen production from oil hydrocarbons at geological carbon storage conditions. Energy Conservation and Management, Vol 235, 2025, Article 119438. doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2024.119438.

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Abather Alhallaf
PhD Student (2021.1~)
A.J.B. Alhallaf, J. Vilcáez, Y. Liang. Investigating the impact of meteorological factors on sea-level variability in the northwestern Arabian Gulf: a case study using deep learning and advanced statistical models for enhanced forecasting. Ocean Modelling, (2025) Article 102648. doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2025.102648.
A.J.B. Alhallaf, J. Vilcáez, P. Rudra, A.A. Lafta. Predicting sea level variations for early warning using SARIMA model and deep learning techniques in the northwest Arabian Gulf. Discovery Geosciences, (2025) 3:158. doi.org/10.1007/s44288-025-00270-y.

Valentine Ezennubia
MS (2022.12)
Hybrid Mud logger II at Diversified Logging, LLC (2022.12~)
V. Ezennubia, J. Vilcáez. Removal of oil hydrocarbons from petroleum produced water by indigenous oil degrading microbial communities. Journal of Water Process Engineering, Vol 51, 2023, Article 103400. doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2022.103400.

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Olubukola Ishola
PhD (2023.4)
Machine Learning Engineer @ GSK (2023.5~)
O. Ishola, J. Vilcáez. Augmenting X-ray micro-CT data with MICP data for high resolution pore-scale modelling of carbonate rocks. Geoenergy Science and Engineering, Vol. 239, 2024, Article 212982. doi.org/10.1016/j.geoen.2024.212982.
O. Ishola, J. Vilcáez. Machine learning modeling of permeability in 3D heterogeneous porous media using a novel stochastic pore-scale simulation approach. Fuel, Vol. 321, 2022, Article 124044. doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2022.124044.
O. Ishola, A. Alexander, J. Vilcáez. Statistical and neural network analysis of the relationship between the stochastic nature of pore connectivity and flow properties of heterogeneous rocks. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, Vol. 105, 2022, Article 104719. doi.org/10.1016/j.jngse.2022.104719.

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Khalid Omar
PhD (2023.4)
Chemical Hygiene Officer at IM3NY (2023.5~)
K. Omar, J. Vilcáez. The role of alkalinity on metals removal from petroleum produced water by dolomite. Applied Geochemistry, 2023. Article 105879. doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2023.105879.
K. Omar, J. Vilcáez. Transport of Ba, Sr, Cd, Pd, and As in dolomite saline aquifers injected with petroleum produced water. Geoenergy Science and Engineering, 2023. Article 21234. doi.org/10.1016/j.geoen.2023.212342.
K. Omar, J. Vilcáez. Removal of toxic metals from petroleum produced water by dolomite filtration. Journal of Water Process Engineering, Vol. 47, 2022, Article 102982. doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2022.102682.

Babak Shabani, PhD (2019.4)
Research Scientists at the Indiana Geological & Water Survey (2019.5~)
B. Shabani, J. Pashin, J. Vilcáez. TOUGHREACT-CO2Bio – A new module to simulate geological carbon storage under biotic conditions (Part 2): The bio-geochemical reactive transport of CO₂-CH₄-H₂-H₂S gas mixtures. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, Vol. 76, 2020, Article 103190. doi.org/10.1016/j.jngse.2020.103190.
B. Shabani, J. Vilcáez. TOUGHREACT-CO2Bio – a new module to simulate geological carbon storage under biotic conditions (Part 1): the multiphase flow of CO2-CH4-H2-H2S gas mixtures. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering. Vol. 63, 2019, pp. 85-94. doi.org/10.1016/j.jngse.2019.01.013.
B. Shabani, J. Vilcáez. A fast and robust TOUGH2 module to simulate CO₂ storage in saline aquifers. Computers & Geosciences, Vol. 111, 2018, pp. 58-66. doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2017.10.012.
B. Shabani, J. Vilcáez. Prediction of CO₂-CH₄-H₂S-N₂ gas mixtures solubility in brine using a non-iterative fugacity-activity model relevant to CO₂-MEOR. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Vol. 150, 2017, pp. 162-179. doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2016.12.012.

Pouyan Ebrahimi, PhD (2018.4)
Postdoctoral Fellow at Missouri University of Science & Technology (2018.5~)
P. Ebrahimi, J. Vilcáez. Transport of barium in fractured dolomite and sandstone saline aquifers. Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 647, 2019, pp. 323-333. doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.008.
P. Ebrahimi, J. Vilcáez. Petroleum produced water disposal: Mobility and transport of barium in sandstone and dolomite rocks. Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 634, 2018, pp. 1054-1063. doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.067.
P. Ebrahimi, J. Vilcáez. Effect of brine salinity and guar gum on the transport of barium through dolomite rocks: implications for unconventional oil and gas wastewater disposal. Journal of Environmental Management, 2018. Vol. 214, 2018, pp. 370-378. doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.03.008.

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Joshua York
MS Student (2017)
J. Vilcáez, J. York, N. Youssef, M. Elshahed. Stimulation of methanogenic crude oil biodegradation in depleted oil reservoirs. Fuel, Vol. 232, 2018, pp. 581-590. doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2018.06.018.