Penn State University
Energy and Mineral Engineering
Penn State University Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering

EME Faculty

Professor Li Li

Li Li

Assistant Professor of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering
 
office:     108 Hosler Building
phone:     814-867-3547
email:     lili@eme.psu.edu
fax:     814-865-3248

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Bio


Biographical Sketch

Li Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering. She holds a B.S. and M.S. in environmental chemistry from Nanjing University (P. R. China) and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from Princeton University. Before coming to Penn State, she worked as a postdoc and as a research scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Dr. Li has an interdisciplinary background combining areas of multiphase flow and transport (relevant to petroleum engineering), environmental engineering, and geochemistry. Her unique background has enabled her to study the complex interactions between physical and (bio)geochemical processes in natural subsurface systems. Her current research focuses on understanding reactive transport processes relevant to geological CO2 sequestration, microbially enhanced oil recovery (meor), and bioremediation of radionuclide-contaminated sites. She uses both numerical models and experiments to understand the coupling between multiple processes at different spatial scales and how the characteristics of natural systems affect thermodynamics and kinetics of reactions.


Educational Background

Ph.D. (Environmental Engineering), Princeton University, 2005

M.Sc. (Environmental Chemistry), Nanjing University, 1999

B.Sc. (Environmental Chemistry), Nanjing University, 1996



Active Research Projects


Microbially enhanced oil recovery

Microbially Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) involves either the stimulation of indigenous bacteria in oil fields or the injection of bacteria to improve oil production. The mechanisms of MEHR vary, but the ultimate goal is to alter the properties of trapped oil or the subsurface that surround them by products of microbially-mediated reactions. In this work, we aim to understand important processes in MEOR, as well as the conditions under which MEOR works to its best.



Geological CO2 sequestration

Sequestration of supercritical CO2 in deep subsurface formations, including depleted oil and gas reservoirs, coal beds, and deep saline aquifers, can reduce atmospheric concentration of CO2 and hopefully reduce the effects of global warming in the short term. This work aims to understand the coupling between multiple processes that occur during carbon sequestration, including multiphase flow and transport (CO2, oil, gas, saline water), as well as reactions between CO2 and subsurface formations that lead to permanent CO2 mineralization in deep subsurface.



Bioremediation of Uranium-contaminated environments

The idea of uranium bioremediation is to inject organic carbon such as acetate into the subsurface to stimulate indigeneous bacteria and transform uranium from its soluble form (U(VI)) to insoluble form (U(IV)). In this way we can immobilize Uranium and prevent the spreading of uranium plume. This project aims to understand and quantify complex interactions between transport processes and biogeochemical reactions, as well as the time evolution of subsurface properties during bioremediation, with the ultimate goal of improving the efficacy of uranium bioremediation. For more information please visit: http://esd.lbl.gov/research/projects/sustainable_systems/.



Some of these projects are in close collaboration with a multidisciplinary team in the Earth Science Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. We are looking for motivated graduate students or postdocs.



Selected Publications


  1. Li, L., C. I. Steefel, K. H. Williams, Michael J. Wilkins, and S. S. Hubbard. 2009. "Mineral transformation and biomass accumulation during uranium bioremediation at Rifle, Colorado." Environmental Science & Technology. doi: 10.1021/es900016v.
  2. J. Chen, S. S. Hubbard, K. H. Williams, S. Pride, L. Li, and L. Slater. 2009. "A state-space Bayesian framework for estimating biogeochemical transformations using time-lapse geophysical data." Water Resources Research. doi:10.1029/2008WR007698.
  3. A. Englert, S. S. Hubbard, K. H. Williams, Li, L., C. I. Steefel. 2009. "Spatiotemporal distribution of bromide, electron donor and reaction products associated with sequential field scale biostimulation experiments." Environmental Science & Technology. doi: 10.1021/es803367n.
  4. Li, L., C. I. Steefel, and L. Yang. 2008. "Scale dependence of mineral dissolution kinetics within single pores and fractures." Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta, 72: 360-377, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2007.10.027. (ranked as one of the 25 hottest articles during the period of January to March 2008).
  5. Li, L., C. A. Peters, and M. A. Celia. 2007. "Applicability of averaged concentrations in determining reaction rates in heterogeneous porous media." American Journal of Science, 307: 1146-1166, doi: 10.2475/10.2007.02.
  6. Li, L., C. A. Peters, and M. A. Celia. 2007. "Effects of mineral spatial distributions on reaction rates in porous media." Water Resources Research, 43, W01419, doi:10.1029/2005WR004848.
  7. Li, L., C. A. Peters, and M. A. Celia. 2006. "Upscaling geochemical reaction rates using pore-scale network modeling." Advances in Water Resources. 29: 1351--1370. (ranked as one of the 25 hottest articles in fall 2006)
  8. Xu, S., L. Li, Y. Tan, J. Feng, Z. Wei, and L. Wang. 2000. "Prediction and QSAR analysis of toxicity to \emph{Photobacterium phosphoreum} for a group of heterocyclic nitrogen compounds." Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 64(3): 316--322.
  9. Li, L., L. Wang, S. Han, and Z. Zhang. 1999. "Comparison of four methods of predicting newly measured octanol/water coefficients (log Kow) for heterocyclic nitrogen compounds and the partition mechanism." Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry, 18(12): 2723--2728.
  10. Li, L., H. Yang, Y. Ding, and L. Wang. 1999. "Prediction of logKw using MCIs and LSER methods for heterocyclic nitrogen compounds." Journal of Liquid Chromatography & Related Technologies. 22(6): 897--907.

Research Interests


Teaching


P N G 410 - Applied Reservoir Engineering (3)


P N G 420 - Applied Reservoir Analysis and Secondary Recovery (3)