The HOPE Group
The Future is Now – HydrOgen Production from the Earth’s subsurface (HOPE)
LIFE & DISCOVERY AT THE HOPE GROUP
News
Research milestones, publications, conferences, and achievements from The HOPE Group.
2026
08/17/2026
Dr. Yuan joined the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State University as an Associate Professor and the Quentin E. and Louise L. Wood Faculty Fellow in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering.
08/14/2026
PhD student Mahmoud Abdellatif’s paper, entitled “Analytical Modeling of Tracer Pulse Tests with Significant Background Concentration at the Utah FORGE Geothermal Site”, was published on Geothermics (Link). Congratulations!
06/07/2026 – 06/12/2026
Dr. Yuan chaired the inaugural GRC–GeoH2 Conference, held June 7–12 in Maine, USA, bringing together leading researchers and professionals in the emerging field of geologic hydrogen. Seven graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from his group also attended the conference and presented their posters.
05/15/2026
congratulations to Dr. Ping Song and Dr. Baizheng An for graduating from The Hope Group!
04/27/2026
PhD student Baizheng An’s paper, entitled “Nano-iron Catalyst Enhanced In-situ Hydrogen Generation via Electromagnetic Heating from Shale Reservoirs”, was published on the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (Link). Congratulations!
04/17/2026
A new paper led by Dr. Yuan (first and corresponding author), titled “Stimulated Geologic Hydrogen: from Mechanistic Control to Engineered Rock Transformation,” has been published on Energy & Environmental Science (Link). A sister review paper on naturally occurring hydrogen, previously co-authored by Dr. Yuan in the same journal, can be found here. Congratulations to The HOPE Group!
04/16/2026
PhD student Md Tauhidur Rahman presented research, entitled “Kinetics of Hydrogen Generation from Methane Pyrolysis: Enhanced by Electromagnetic Heating and Natural Catalysts in Reservoir Rocks”, at the 2026 PSAAPG / SPE Western Regional Joint Meeting in Bakersfield, CA, April 12–16, 2026.
03/25/2026
Alumni Spotlight: Former PhD graduate Dr. Amine Ifticene serves as a featured speaker on SPE Live: Building a Career in Hydrogen – A Conversation with Young Professionals on Skills, Opportunities, and Industry Needs. We are incredibly proud to see our alumni leading these important conversations and shaping the future of the hydrogen industry!
03/25/2026
PhD students Ping Song and Baizheng An successfully passed the PhD defense. Congratulations Dr. Song and Dr. An!
03/23/2026
PhD student Chibuzo Cosmas Nwanwe and former master’s student Anton Kaiser’s paper, entitled “Geochemical Modeling of Geological Hydrogen Generation by Serpentinization,” has been published on the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (Link). Congratulations!
03/06/2026
PhD graduate Dr. Keju Yan’s paper, entitled “Biochar for Electromagnetic Conversion of Natural Gas to In-Situ Hydrogen Production: Energy Enhancer, Catalyst, and Facilitator”, has been published on the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (Link). Congratulations!
02/26/2026
Dr. Yuan earns tenure (effective immediately) and promotion to Associate Professor (effective September 1, 2026) at Texas Tech University.
01/17/2026
PhD graduate Dr. Mohamed Amine Ifticene’s paper, entitled “Reservoir-Scale Modeling and Techno-Economic Analysis of In-Situ Hydrogen Production from Heavy Oil Reservoirs via Cyclic Air-Steam Injection”, has been published on Fuel (Link). Congratulations!
2025
12/23/2025
The Hope Group hosted a Scientific Writing Workshop to celebrate the end of the fall semester.
12/12/2025
welcome PhD student Ahmet Birkan Demir from Texas A&M University to visit The Hope Group for one month. Ahmet will work experimental studies of the in-situ hydrogen production from petroleum using the electromagnetic reactor at The Hope Group. This visit is supported by a project funded the U.S. Department of Energy.
12/01/2025
PhD graduate Dr. Dr. Keju Yan’s paper, entitled “Promoting In-Situ Hydrogen Production from Shale Oil via Electromagnetic Heating: Water’s Contribution to Hydrogen Donation and Coke Removal”, was published on the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (Link). Congratulations!
10/22/2025
Dr. Yuan was appointed to the George F. and Joan Watford Energy Professorship at Texas Tech University, concluding his service as Matejek Family Faculty Fellow (01/2020 – 10/2025).
10/20/2025
PhD student Baizheng An presented the paper, entitled “The Role of Water in Enhancing In-Situ Hydrogen Production from Shale Oil“, on behalf of the authors at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, USA, October 2025. A copy of this paper can be found here.
10/08/2025
Dr. Yuan received the Whitacre Engineering Research Award at Texas Tech University.
09/29/2025
PhD student Ping Song’s paper, entitled “Hydrogen Production via In-situ Combustion Gasification: Insights from Lab-scale Modeling Assisted by Machine Learning”, has been published on Gas Science and Engineering (Link). Congratulations!
08/23/2025
The Hope Group is pleased to welcome Ms. Yiling Du, who has joined the team as a Ph.D. student. Her research will focus on modeling stimulated GeoH₂ production from iron-rich rock formations, contributing to the group’s efforts in advancing scientific understanding and predictive capabilities in subsurface hydrogen systems.
08/23/2025
The Hope Group is delighted to congratulate Mr. Michael Kyei on the successful completion of his Master’s degree and to announce that he will be continuing his academic journey with us as a Ph.D. student. His ongoing research will further advance our work on in-situ hydrogen production from petroleum reservoirs.
08/19/2025
Dr. Danny Reible, Dr. Omar Maiga, and Dr. Qingwang Yuan attended the GeoH2 Summit at the Duluth, Minnesota. Dr. Yuan shared with the stakeholders about the mission and main thrusts of the Association of Geological Hydrogen (AGH).
08/01/2025
The Hope Group hosted the first University-Industry Day Event. This event is to share our research with industry, identify the synergy between industry and university, and enhance internal and external collaborations on the emerging subsurface hydrogen production. Participants include 10 engineers from 9 companies and nonprofit organizations, 14 graduate students, and 3 faculty members.
07/01/2025
PhD student Mr. Mohamed Zinelabidine Dogmane began a one-month research visit to Stanford University to collaborate on GeoH2 research. We sincerely thank the U.S. Department of Energy for funding this visit and Stanford University for graciously hosting Mr. Doghmane.
05/28/2025
Dr. Yuan attended the ARPA-E Subsurface Week at Reston, VA to share the GeoH2 research and the activities led by the Association of Geological Hydrogen (AGH). AGH organized a group of about 30 researchers during this workshop to discuss the GeoH2 research and data sharing.
05/22/2025
The Hope Group hold the first internal Poster Day Event to discuss the research, courses, and career development. A total of 17 posters were presented by students and the principal investigator, fostering internal collaboration across diverse research topics.
05/19/2025
PhD student Ping Song has been awarded the scholarship from Southwest Section of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Congratulations!
05/15/2025
Keju Yan and Mohamed Amine Ifticene were officially awarded their PhD degrees during the graduation ceremony. Congratulations Dr. Yan and Dr. Ifticene! I am proud of you!
05/10/2025
The Hope Group hosted a potluck party to celebrate the graduation and great success of the first two PhD graduates, Dr. Keju Yan and Dr. Mohamed Amine Ifticene, and the new team member Dr. Omar Maiga. A total of 24 students and their family members attended.
05/05/2025
Dr. Omar Maiga, a world’s leading expert on geologic hydrogen reservoirs characterization, joins The Hope Group as a Postdoc. Welcome!
05/01/2025
the full schedule of the first Gordon Research Conference – Geologic Conference, entitled “Generation, Stimulation, Migration, Accumulation, Exploration, and Economic-Environmental Considerations of Geologic Hydrogen”, is available online at https://www.grc.org/geologic-hydrogen-conference/2026/. Dr. Yuan serves as the Chair of this conference.
04/24/2025
PhD student Mohamed Amine Ifticene’s paper, entitled “Numerical modeling of in-situ hydrogen production via cyclic air-steam injection in heavy oil reservoirs”, has been published on the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (Link). Congratulations!
04/13/2025
PhD graduate Keju Yan’s paper, entitled “Biochar for Carbon-Negative Hydrogen Production from Fossil Fuel Reservoirs”, has been published on the Journal of Cleaner Production (Link). This is a collaborative paper between TTU and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Congratulations!
03/26/2025
PhD student Mohamed Amine Ifticene has successfully passed the thesis defense! The thesis title is “In-situ Hydrogen Production from Heavy Oil and Bitumen Reservoirs via In-situ Combustion Gasification: Kinetics, Modeling, and Techno-Economic Analysis“. Congratulations, Dr. Ifticene! Well done!
03/13/2025
PhD student Keju Yan has successfully passed the thesis defense! The thesis title is “In-situ Hydrogen Production from Petroleum Reservoirs using Electromagnetic-assisted Catalytic Heating“. Congratulations, Dr. Yan, on becoming the first PhD graduate from The Hope Group! A big milestone!
02/27/2025
PhD student Mohamed Amine Ifticene won the 1st place in the Southwestern Petroleum Short Course (SWPSC) Poster Contest at the graduate level. Congratulations!
02/11/2025
Dr. Yuan’s proposal on Faculty Exchange to Advance the Global Geologic Hydrogen (GeoH2) Network has been approved by the International Affairs at the Texas Tech University. This grant will allow Dr. Yuan and his collaborator in Australia to visit each other and strengthen and create more collaborations in the area of GeoH2. Congratulations!
01/16/2025
Dr. Yuan’s proposal on fostering a new GeoH2 workforce pipeline was selected by the Department of Energy – Clean Energy Career for All program (Link). This proposal was submitted through the Association of Geological Hydrogen (AGH) with Dr. Yuan serving as a Co-Founder and the President. The AGH aims to enable geological hydrogen as a primary clean energy source. Partnering institutions include Texas Tech University, Addis Energy, University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, The Pennsylvania State University, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Los Alamos National Lab, GTI Energy, and Texas Hydrogen Alliance. Congratulations!
01/07/2025
The Hope Group begins to partner with the DiagnaMed Holdings Corp. to commercialize the technology for in-situ, clean hydrogen production from petroleum reservoirs using the electromagnetic-assisted catalytic heating invented by Dr. Yuan. The news release can be found here.
2024
12/12/2024
Dr. Yuan served as a Chair in the AGU 2024 Annual Meeting (Session “Unraveling the Mystery of Natural Hydrogen Occurrence and Unlocking Its Potential for Energy Transition”). This session attracted 9 oral presentations and 16 posters.
10/31/2024
PhD student Keju Yan’s paper, entitled “Insights into reaction mechanisms: Water’s role in enhancing in-situ hydrogen production from methane conversion in sandstone”, has been accepted by the Journal of Energy Chemistry. Congratulations!
10/24/2024
PhD student Mohamed Amine Ifticene’s abstract, entitled “Mechanistic Control and Optimization of Hydrogen Production via Cyclic Air-steam Injection in Heavy Oil Reservoirs”, has been accepted to be presented in the 2025 SPE Western Regional Meeting.
10/18/2024
PhD student Mohamed Amine Ifticene’s paper, entitled “Governing Chemical Reactions and Mechanisms of Hydrogen Generation During In-situ Combustion Gasification of Heavy Oil”, has been accepted by the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. Congratulations!
10/13/2024
PhD student Baizheng An’s paper, entitled “Deciphering Minerals in Reservoir Rocks as Natural Catalysts for In-Situ Methane-to-Hydrogen Conversion via Electromagnetic Heating”, has been published by International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (Link). Congratulations!
10/09/2024
Dr. Yuan has been awarded the Emerging Inventor of the Year at Texas Tech University (Link). Congratulations to The Hope Group!
10/09/2024
PhD student Mohamed Amine Ifticene’s paper, entitled “Kinetic Modeling of Hydrogen Generation via In-situ Combustion Gasification of Heavy Oil”, has been published on Energy & Fuel (Link). Congratulations!
10/01/2024
undergraduate student Adkham Izbassar won the Campus Access and Engagement Scholarships at Texas Tech University. Congratulations!
09/24/2024
Dr. Yuan and PhD students (Mohamed Amine Ifticene, Keju Yan, Baizheng An, and Ping Song) attended the SPE ATCE conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana. Amine and Keju presented their work on in-situ, carbon-zero hydrogen production from petroleum reservoirs. Good job!
08/15/2024
the Regional Initiative for Technical Assistance Partnerships (RITAP) – Permian Basin project is selected by the Department of Energy. This project focuses on the basin-scale carbon transport and storage and community engagement in the Permian Basin. Dr. Yuan serves as a Co-PI on this project. Details can be found here and here. Congratulations to The Hope Group and the TTU’s Department of Petroleum Engineering!
08/15/2024
PhD student Mr. Keju Yan’s paper, entitled “Iron-Sandstone Synergy: Advancing In-situ Hydrogen Production from Natural Gas via Electromagnetic Heating”, has been published on the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (Link). Congratulations!
07/05/2024
Dr. Yuan’s proposal, entitled “Incubating Next Generation Clean Energy Scientists and Engineers Through Minority-Scholar Exchange and In-Situ Hydrogen Production Research”, is officially funded by the Department of Energy (Link and Link). This project is led by Texas Tech University with partners from Texas A&M University, Howard University, and University at Buffalo. Congratulations to The Hope Group!
06/27/2024
PhD student Mohamed Amine Ifticene’s abstract, entitled “Simulation of Cyclic Steam-Air Injection for In-Situ Hydrogen Production from Heavy Oil Reservoirs”, was accepted by the International Petroleum Technology Conference to be held 18-20 February 2025, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
06/16/2024
PhD student Mr. Baizheng An’s paper, entitled “Characterizing Thermal Runaway of Reservoir Rocks under Electromagnetic Irradiation Towards Hydrogen Generation from Petroleum Reservoirs”, has been published by the Applied Thermal Engineering (Link). Congratulations!
05/12/2024
PhD student Mr. Keju Yan starts the 3-month’s intern at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) working on in-situ hydrogen production research. We thank The CH Foundation for supporting this research and also thank LANL for collaborating on this project.
05/09/2024
Dr. Yuan and PhD students (Ping Song, Baizheng An, Keju Yan, and Mohamed Amine Ifticene) attended the award ceremony at the Petroleum Club of Midland to receive several SPE awards. Congratulations to the awardees and The Hope Group!
05/06/2024
PhD student Mr. Keju Yan’s abstract, entitled “Energy Efficiency of In-situ Carbon-zero Hydrogen from Natural Gas Using Electromagnetic-assisted Catalytic Heating” (SPE-221063), was accepted by the 2024 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) to be held 23 – 25 September 2024, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Congratulations to Keju! This is 100th anniversary of the ATCE!
05/06/2024
PhD student Mr. Mohamed Amine Ifticene’s abstract, entitled “Kinetic Modeling of Hydrogen Generation Via In-situ Combustion Gasification of Heavy Oil” (SPE-220862), was accepted by the 2024 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) – Hydrogen Session. This conference will be held 23 – 25 September 2024, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Congratulations to Amine and co-authors! This is 100th anniversary of the ATCE!
05/03/2024
News release published on the Texas Tech Now for the visit of Dr. Douglas Wicks and his team from ARPA-E, entitled “Texas Tech Researchers are Working to Find Low-Cost Energy Options“. We sincerely thank ARPA-E for supporting our research on carbon-free hydrogen production from the Earth’s subsurface. The super insightful seminar given by Dr. Wicks can be found here. “THE FUTURE, can you unlock it?” — Wicks asked. “Yes, we can.” — The Hope Group.
05/01/2024
Congratulations to PhD student Mr. Keju Yan for wining the Outstanding Organization Member Award at Texas Tech University!
04/26/2024
Congratulations to PhD student Mr. Keju Yan for wining the Arlen Edgar Presidential Scholarship from the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)! Great achievement!
04/26/2024
Congratulations to four PhD students who won the SPE Permian Basin Scholarship – Ms. Ping Song, Mr. Baizheng An, and Mr. Mohamed Amine Ifticene! Great achievements!
04/26/2024
Dr. Yuan has been selected to receive the SPE Regional Reservoir Description and Dynamics Award. Congratulations to The Hope Group!
04/23/2024
Welcome three students joining The Hope Group – PhD student Mr. Precious Opoku, Master student Mr. Michael Angelo Kyei, and undergraduate student Mr. Adkham Izbassar.
04/17/2024
PhD student Mr. Mohamed Amine Ifticene presented his work, entitled “Mechanisms of Hydrogen Generation During In-situ Combustion Gasification of Heavy Oil”, on the SPE Western Regional Meeting, Palo Alto, California, USA, April 2024 (Link).
04/11/2024
Natural hydrogen is entering a new phase! Natural Hydrogen is now recognized as an important topic by the International Energy Agency’s Hydrogen Technology Collaboration Program – IEA TCP Task 49 (Link and Link). Dr. Yuan serves as a committee member in this task and will collaborate with the world-class researchers to develop the roadmap for natural hydrogen in the future two years. Congratulations to the team!
04/09/2024
PhD student Mr. Keju Yan received the AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid Award. Congratulations!
03/28/2024
welcome Dr. Douglas Wicks, the Program Director at ARPA-E, and his colleagues to visit Texas Tech University and The Hope Group to discuss the GeoH2 project on stimulated natural hydrogen production. We are super excited to start this project and develop the carbon-free hydrogen production technology. The Future is Now!
03/06/2024
PhD students Mr. Keju Yan’s and Mr. Baizheng An’s paper, entitled “Natural catalysis-based clean hydrogen production from shale oil: An in-situ conversion enabled by electromagnetic heating”, was published in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (Link). Congratulations!
03/05/2024
PhD student Keju Yan won the 2nd place in the Southwestern Petroleum Short Course (SWPSC) Poster Contest at the graduate level. Congratulations!
02/12/2024
PhD student Keju Yan presented the work, entitled “Characterizing Thermal Runaway of Reservoir Rocks Under Electromagnetic Irradiation Towards Hydrogen Generation from Petroleum Reservoirs”, on the International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 2024.
02/08/2024
02/05/2024
Dr. Yuan gave an online seminar to graduate students in the Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wyoming, entitled “In-situ HydrOgen Production from PEtroleum Reservoirs (HOPE)”.
01/12/2024
The Hope Group held the Annual Review Meeting to summarize the achievements in 2023 and plan the research for 2024.
2023
12/11/2023
Master student Anton Kaiser presented a poster, entitled “Geochemical Modeling of Serpentinization Processes with Implications for Natural Hydrogen Exploration”, in AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, December 11-15, 2023, San Francisco, California.
12/11/2023
Dr. Yuan serves as chair and co-chair during the 2023 American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference on natural hydrogen (Oral session and Poster session) and underground storage of energy and carbon (Oral session and Poser session) in San Francisco, California, 12/11/2023 – 12/15/2023.
11/28/2023
PhD student Mr. Mohamed Amine Ifticene’s abstract, entitled “Mechanism of hydrogen generation during in-situ combustion gasification of heavy oil” (SPE-218902), is accepted as a conference paper and will be presented on the SPE Western Regional Meeting to be held 16-18 April 2024 in Palo Alto, California, USA. Congratulations to Amine!
11/03/2023
Dr. Yuan gave a seminar to graduate students in the Department of Petroleum Engineering at University of Houston, entitled “In-situ HydrOgen Production from PEtroleum Reservoirs (HOPE)”.
10/20/2023
Congratulations to the PhD student Mr. Mohamed Amine Ifticene for wining the Graduate Research Support Award from Graduate School at Texas Tech University!
10/15/2023
PhD student Mohamed Amine Ifticene’s paper, entitled “Fueling a Carbon-Zero Future: Igniting Hydrogen Production from Petroleum Reservoirs via In-Situ Combustion Gasification”, has been published on the Energy Conversion and Management (Impact factor: 10.4) (Link). Congratulations!
09/22/2023
PhD student Ms. Ping Song’s paper, entitled “Simulation of Hydrogen Generation via In-situ Combustion Gasification of Heavy Oil”, has been published on the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (Link). Congratulations!
09/20/2023
Argonne National Lab’s Techno-Economic Analysis concluded that hydrogen production method proposed by the The Hope Process (HydrOgen production from PEtroleum reservoirs using electromagnetic-assisted catalytic heating approach) would cost between $0.86 – $1.47 per Kg Hydrogen. The news and report can be found here and here. The Hope Group is collaborating with TerraVent Environmental Inc. to further develop this technology. Any interest in collaborating on this technology is welcome.
09/15/2023
Dr. Yuan’s proposal is funded by the National Science Foundation. This project focuses on hydrogen production from depleted sandstone reservoirs using electromagnetic-assisted catalytic heating approach. Congratulations to The Hope Group.
08/22/2023
PhD student Mr. Keju Yan presented his work, entitled “Enabling Hydrogen Production from Shale Oil Reservoirs: An Experimental Study Using Microwave-Assisted Catalytic Heating” (SPE-215725), on the SPE Energy Transition Symposium, Houston, Texas, USA, 22-24, August 2023 (Link, Link). Congratulations to Keju.
07/06/2023
Dr. Yuan’s proposal is funded by the ACS Petroleum Research Fund (Doctoral New Investigator Grant). The project focuses on elucidating dehydrogenation of shale oil on iron catalyst surface for clean hydrogen production. Congratulations to The Hope Group.
07/01/2023
Dr. Yuan organized the first natural hydrogen session, entitled “Unravelling the Mystery of Natural Hydrogen Occurrence and Unlocking its Potential”, on the AGU fall meeting to be held in December 11-15, 2023 in San Francisco. The link for submitting an abstract can be found here: Link.
06/19/2023
a PhD student Mr. Keju Yan begins an intern at the Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) working on hydrogen production from petroleum reservoirs towards his thesis research.
05/15/2023
a master student Mr. Anton Kaiser begins to do a two-month intern at the Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) working on natural hydrogen towards his thesis research.
04/22/2023
Mr. Mark Blue, the CTO of the TerraVent Environmental Inc., visited The Hope Group and discussed the collaborations on communalization of the in-situ hydrogen production from petroleum reservoirs using microwave-assisted catalytic heating technology.
04/20/2023
Dr. Yuan serves as a part-time Special Advisor for Subsurface Hydrogen Production at TerraVent Environmental Inc.
04/18/2023
Congratulations to PhD student Mr. Mohamed Amine Ifticene for wining the SPE Permian Basin Scholarship!
04/13/2023
Congratulations to PhD student Mr. Keju Yan for wining the Graduate Research Support Award from Graduate School at Texas Tech University!
04/06/2023
PhD student Mr. Keju Yan’s abstract, entitled “Enabling hydrogen production from depleted shale oil reservoirs” (SPE-215725), is accepted as a conference paper and will be presented on the SPE Energy Transition Symposium, Houston, Texas, USA, 22-24, August 2023. Congratulations to Keju.
04/05/2023
Dr. Yuan co-authorized conference paper, entitled “A recurrent neural network-based solvent chamber estimation framework during warm solvent injection in heterogeneous reservoirs” (SPE-214984), is accepted as a conference paper and will be presented on the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Texas, USA, 16-18, October 2023. Congratulations to The Hope Group.
04/05/2023
PhD student Mr. Keju Yan’s abstract, entitled “Unraveling the role of water in microwave-assisted catalytic hydrogen production from gas reservoirs” (SPE-214884), is accepted as a conference paper and will be presented on the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Texas, USA, 16-18, October 2023. Congratulations to Keju.
03/23/2023
Dr. Yuan’s patent, entitled “In-Situ Hydrogen Generation and Production from Petroleum Reservoirs” (serial No. PCT/US2022/044109), is published online in The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Congratulations to The Hope Group.
03/20/2023
Dr. Yuan’s patent, entitled “In-Situ Hydrogen Generation and Production from Petroleum Reservoirs” (serial No. PCT/US2022/044109), won the Daneshy International Award for Best Invention on Energy Transition in the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET) at The University of Southern California. Congratulations to The Hope Group.
02/12/2023
The mass spec (MAX300-IG Industrial Gas Analyzer, Extrel) has been successfully calibrated. This equipment is capable of analyzing the composition of the effluent gases from our microwave reactor system and in-situ combustion system in a real time with three seconds interval for one group of data points. The results are super nice. PhD student Keju Yan did a good job!
01/06/2023
The Hope Group had a group meeting discussing the goals of the group, expectations, resources that students need from supervisor, and how to be more successful for students and the whole group.
01/04/2023
PhD student Mr. Keju Yan’s paper, entitled “Microwave-Enhanced Methane Cracking for Clean Hydrogen Production in Shale Rocks”, has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. Congratulations!
2022
11/10/2022
The Hope Group starts to collaborate with Argonne National Laboratory on the Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for the technology in-situ microwave/electromagnetic-assisted catalytic heating for hydrogen production from petroleum reservoirs. This collaboration is supported by the H-Prize fund from DOE.
10/18/2022
PhD student Ms. Ping Song’s abstract, entitled “Hydrogen Generation from Heavy Oils via In-Situ Combustion Gasification” (SPE-212986), is accepted as a conference paper and will be presented on the SPE Western Regional Meeting, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, 21-23, May 2023.
10/11/2022
Dr. Yuan’s proposal is selected as a winner in the competition for the H-Prize: Hydrogen Shot Incubator Propose! Phase (Link, Link). This prize is one of the American-Made Prizes, administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and is jointly funded by the DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office and the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. Congratulations to The Hope Group.
10/03/2022
Keju Yan presented his work on 2022 SPE ATCE conference in Houston, entitled “Microwave‐Assisted Catalytic Heating for Enhanced Clean Hydrogen Generation from Methane Cracking in Shale Rocks”.
09/25/2022
Dr. Yuan’s paper is published on Chemical Engineering Science, Vol. 263, 118060 (2022), entitled “Fluid retention on miscible viscous fingering of finite slices in porous media with dead-end pores” (Link).
09/15/2022
Dr. Yuan’s paper is published on Physics of Fluids, Vol. 34, 092109 (2022), entitled “New phase diagram of miscible viscous fingering instabilities in porous media with dead-end pores” (Link).
09/12/2022
Dr. Yuan invited Dr. Viacheslav Zgonnik, the CEO of Natural Hydrogen Energy LLC (NH2E), to give an online talk entitled “Natural Hydrogen – The Next Source of Energy” through the Early Career Network of International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE). The webinar will start at 8 am CDT time on October 5, 2022. The flyer can be downloaded here and the registration link is: https://evt.to/ausudeauw.
08/16/2022
Mohamed Amine Ifticene joins The Hope Group as a PhD student.
08/15/2022
Anton Kaiser starts to work as a Master student in The Hope Group.
08/10/2022
Dr. Yuan gives a talk entitled “New Energy Sources: Clean and Economic Hydrogen Production from Subsurface” to the Homeland Defense & Security Information Analysis Center (HDIAC) (Link).
08/10/2022
Baizheng An (PhD student) and Daniel Solorzano (undergraduate student) published a paper on Energies entitled “Viscous Fingering Dynamics and Flow Regimes of Miscible Displacements in a Sealed Hele-Shaw Cell” (Link).
07/06/2022
Dr. Yuan received an award from The CH Foundation, 01/2023 – 12/2024.
07/05/2022
Dr. Yuan is featured as a Subject Matter Expert in Alternative Energy by the Homeland Defense & Security (Link).
05/21/2022
Dr. Yuan accepted the invitation to be an Associate Editor in journal Petroleum Science and Technology (Link).
05/14/2022
Dr. Yuan published a paper on International Journal of Hydrogen Energy entitled “Hydrogen Generation in Crushed Rocks Saturated by Crude Oil and Water Using Microwave Heating” (Link).
04/06/2022
Congratulations on the acceptance of the paper entitled “Microwave-assisted Catalytic Heating for Enhanced Clean Hydrogen Generation from Methane Cracking in Shale Rocks” by Keju Yan, Qingwang Yuan, Xiangyu Jie, Xiaoqiang Li, Juske Horita, and Jacob Stephens, for presentation at the 2022 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) to be held 3 – 5 October 2022 in Houston, Texas, USA.