Dr Prashant Jadhawar

Biography

Dr. Prashant Jadhawar is an accomplished energy expert and academic with over 22 years of experience spanning academia (18 years) and the oil and gas industry (4 years) across the UK, Germany, Australia, and India. His expertise includes Enhanced Oil & Gas Recovery (EOR/EGR), CO₂ sequestration and utilization, Reservoir Modelling and Simulation and Flow Assurance.

In academia, Dr. Jadhawar has designed and delivered multidisciplinary postgraduate courses including Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS), Reservoir Engineering and Simulation, Petroleum Fluid Properties, Well Testing, Flow Assurance, and Well Plugging & Abandonment. As Senior Reservoir Engineer – EOR (R&D) at Wintershall Holding GmbH (Germany), he advanced EOR applications involving CO₂, surfactant and low-salinity water - flooding in sandstone and carbonate reservoirs.

Over nearly two decades of academic leadership in the UK and India, he developed the Petroleum Engineering programme at the University of Portsmouth (2011–2014), collaborating with the SPE London Section and industry to establish a SPE guest lecture series and secure over £4 million in lab and software resources. He is currenly driving industry-academic research/teaching partnerships at the University of Aberdeen, UK and worked with process industry leaders including Uhde, Kvaerner, and Linde during his tenure at MIT-WPU Pune (1997-2003).

Currently, he leads pioneering research as Principal Investigator in Hydrogen Innovation, focused on H₂ pipeline transport and Terawatt-hour-scale underground storage in depleted oil & gas reservoirs and aquifers, independently or integrated with CCUS, with funding from Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) and industry partners to position his work at the nexus of clean energy, geological storage, and sustainable infrastructure design (repurposing), thus contribute significantly to global energy innovation, climate mitigation technologies, and development of the next generation of energy engineers

Prizes and Awards

Expert Panelist on invitation at the first Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) hosted by Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, (2021); shared profound knowledge on "Natural Gas Hydrates: Challenges and Opportunities in India", Virtual conference: Future of Natural Resources (Hydrocarbons, Rare Earth Metals and Blue Economy), (Invited speaker), 29/10/2021. Conference on Future of Natural Resources: Government of India (from 2:14:15 onwards)

Key Invited Talks:

1. Jadhawar, P. 2024. "NET ZERO targets achievement through Underground Hydrogen Storage in Depleted Oil and Gas Reservoirs and Aquifers", Powering the Net Zero (PNZ), IET Conference, Birmingham, UK (5 Dec 2024). https://poweringnetzero.theiet.org/programme/speakers/hydrogen-speakers
2. Jadhawar, P. 2024. "Underground Storage of gases to achieve Net Zero Targets for Energy Transition", International Conference on Oil and Gas for Energy Security, 17 February 2024, Gandhinagar, India
3. Keynote Speaker: Jadhawar, P., 2023. "Energy Transition - The Underground Storage of Hydrogen". 1st International conference in Earth Sciences and Energy Transition. (Keynote Speaker). 8/02/23. Muscat, Oman
4. Jadhawar, P., 2021. "CO2/H2 Transportation and Underground Storage". Energy Transition - Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage, (Oman Drilling and Exploration Symposium), 21/03/2021.

Research Overview

Research Expertise: 

• Underground Storage of hydrogen and carbon dioxide in depleted Oil and Gas reservoirs and Aquifers
• Hydrogen, methane, carbon dioxide (CO₂) and their blends' Transportation in pipelines (including repurposing options)
• Enhanced Oil and Gas Recovery
• CO₂ sequestration & Storage (CCUS)
• Exploitation of Methane Hydrates in Porous Media: CO₂-CH₄ replacement and other methods
• Reservoir Modelling and Simulation
• Field Development: Feasibility screening and deployment studies 
• Flow Assurance 

Key Publications:

1. Saeed, M., & Jadhawar, P. 2024. Modelling underground hydrogen storage: A state-of-the-art review of fundamental approaches and findings. Gas Science and Engineering, volume 121, 205196, ISSN 2949-9089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgsce.2023.205196
2. Saeed M., and Jadhawar, P. 2024. Optimizing underground hydrogen storage in aquifers: The impact of cushion gas type, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, ISSN 0360-3199, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.08.352.
3. Jadhawar, P. and M. Saeed. 2023. Optimizing the operational efficiency of the underground hydrogen storage scheme in a deep North Sea aquifer through compositional simulations. Journal of Energy Storage, volume 73, Part A, 108832. ISSN 2352-152X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2023.108832.
4. Jadhawar, P. and M. Saeed. 2024. "Mechanistic evaluation of the reservoir engineering performance for the underground hydrogen storage in a deep North Sea aquifer." International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, vol 50, Part D, p558-574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.07.272
5. Saeed, M.; Jadhawar, P.; Bagala, S. 2023. Geochemical Effects on Storage Gases and Reservoir Rock during Underground Hydrogen Storage: A Depleted North Sea Oil Reservoir Case Study. Hydrogen. 4, 323-337. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrogen4020023
6. Saeed, M., Zhou, Y., and Jadhawar, P. 2023. Surface complexation modelling of HPAM polymer-brine-sandstone interfaces: Low salinity polymer flooding. Energy & Fuels Energy & Fuels, 37 (9), 6585-6600 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.3c00542
7. Jadhawar, P. and Saeed, Motaz. 2023. Low salinity polymer flooding in sandstone reservoirs: Upscaling from nano-to-macro-scale using the Maximum Energy Barrier. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 220: 111247 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2022.111247
8. Saeed, M., Jadhawar, P., Ayirala, S.C., Abhishek, R., Zhou, Y., (2022). Modelling the effects of reservoir parameters and rock mineralogy on wettability during low salinity waterflooding in sandstone reservoirs. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 110676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2022.110676
9. Saeed, M., Jadhawar, P., Zhou, Y., Abhishek, R. (2022). Triple-layer surface complexation modelling: Characterization of oil-brine interfacial zeta potential under varying conditions of temperature, pH, oil properties and potential determining ions, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 633, Part 2, 127903, ISSN 0927-7757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2021.127903

Current Research

Accepting self funded PhD studentship applications:

Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS) integration with CCUS and NET ZERO Innovation applications for depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs and aquifers

https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/repurposing-of-the-pipeline-infrastructure-for-transportation-of-hydrogen-natural-gas-and-their-blends-carbon-dioxide-in-ukcs-for-net-zero-innovation/?p182443

for more details please contact: Prashant.Jadhawar@abdn.ac.uk

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Postdoc opportunity: Newton International Fellowships

Newton International Fellowships to open on 24th January 2024, for non-UK scientists who are at an early stage of their research career (less than 7 years post PhD) and wish to conduct research in the UK. Interested Post-doctoral candidates with strong publications record, please get in touch (Prashant.Jadhawar@abdn.ac.uk) for hydrogen innovation research on "Underground #hydrogen and CO2 Storage in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs and Aquifers"; "#Subsurface #CO2sequestration and #storage as #gas #hydrates".

https://lnkd.in/es98Cd2Y

Underground Hydrogen and CO₂ Storage in Depleted Oil and Gas Reservoirs and Aquifers (NZTC funded project)

Hydrogen, methane and their blends', and carbon dioxide (CO2) Transportation in pipelines (including repurposing options); digital twin development (NZTC funded project)

CO₂ Sequestration and Storage: Oceanic and permafrost gas hydrates

Knowledge Exchange

Technical/Programme Committee Member:

• SPE Offshore Europe, Aberdeen, UK 2-25 September 2025. https://www.offshore-europe.co.uk/en-gb/spe-conference/programme-committee
• DEVEX conference, SPE Aberdeen Section, Since Dec 2017.
• Member of the SPE's Continuing Education Committee at the SPE Aberdeen Section, since Nov 2022.
• Member of panel of judges for the SPE’s prestigious Offshore achievement Awards (OAA) committee, Aberdeen, March 2019
• Session Co-chair at SPE’s DEVEX 2019 conference; 7-8 May 2019, AECC, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.    
• International Petroleum Technology conference (IPTC), Beijing, China. March 2019.
• SPE oil and gas conference India, Mumbai, India. April 2019.

Academic programme reviewer

• Undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Petroleum Engineering at Heriot-Watt University (2012) and London South Bank University (2012).
• A member of the academic advisor committee in petroleum engineering at the Commonwealth commission, UK.

Reviewer for:

• Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Elsevier.
• Sustainable Energy & Fuels, Royal Society of Chemistry.
• Applied Energy, Elsevier.
• Environmental Science & Technology, American Chemical Society (ACS).
• Energy and Fuels,  American Chemical Society (ACS)
• ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
• Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology, Springer
• Journal of dispersion Science and technology

Collaborations

• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras India
• University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, India
• The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia
• University of Leeds, UK
• Louisiana State University, USA
• New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, USA
• Texas Tech University, USA
• University of Calgary, Canada
• MIT World Peace University (MIT-WPU), India
• MIT ADT University, Pune
• MIT ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING, Pune. India

Funding and Grants

• Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) - Hydrogen Innovation Grants for technology development (ongoing), two projects: (i) Hydrogen, CO2 and blend's transportation in pipelines and  (ii) Underground Storage of Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide in Depleted Oil and Gas Reservoirs and Aquifers. 
• Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Internal Pump Priming Fund IPPF, "Accelerating the energy/environment/water nexus in Malaysia by triggering hydrogen economies" (co-investigator: Geo-chemical and geomechanical effects of H2 and CO2 on rock integrity during its underground storage) - (£20,000) 2021.
• Petroleum Technology Development Fund; £49,200.00 (2018-2021) - “Smart water-CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery from Sandstone Reservoirs”.
• Petroleum Technology Development Fund; £50,791 (2019-2022) -“CO2 EOR / sequestration".
• Petroleum Technology Development Fund; £53425.00 (2019-2022) - “Electromagnetic EOR”

Teaching Responsibilities