University of Calgary

Ian D. Gates

Associate Professor

P.Eng.

    • Room: ENB 204E
    • T: (403)-220-5752
    • F: (403)-284-4852
    • EMail:ian [dot] gates [at] ucalgary [dot] ca(Preferred)

 

 

B.Sc. with Distinction, Chemical Engineering, University of Calgary (1989)
M.A.Sc. Chemical Engineering, University of British Columbia (1992)
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Minnesota (1999)

I joined the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Calgary in 2004 after working a total of 7 years in industry.  I am a registered professional engineer in the Province of Alberta and have been a consultant for many small and large energy companies.

My current research interests are in heavy oil and oil sands recovery process design and optimization, thermal and thermal-solvent oil recovery processes, reservoir engineering and simulation, and heat and mass transfer, and fluid mechanics, biofilm evolution in porous media, and bioreactor design (think of the reservoir as a bioreactor). My previous work includes: design of thermal and thermal-solvent recovery processes, thermal and compositional reservoir simulation, automated optimization of recovery processes, analysis of steam and steam-solvent transport in depletion chambers in oil sands processes, thermal-solvent gravity drainage oil recovery processes (simulation and physical model experiments), steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), solvent-enhanced steam-assisted gravity drainage (ES-SAGD), cyclic steam stimulation (CSS), optimization of steam scheduling, genetic algorithms, simulated annealing, modeling and experimentation of coating flows, analysis of free surface flows by using the Galerkin/finite element method, linear stability analysis of free surface flows, coating flows.  

Current Research Projects

  • Thermal (CSS, SAGD, JAGD) and thermal-solvent (ES-SAGD, SA-CSS) recovery process design and optimization
  • Smartwells for heavy oil and oil sands applications and Reservoir Production Machines
  • Transport phenomena at the edge of steam and steam-solvent depletion chambers found in oil sands recovery processes
  • Steam and multiphase flow in thermal recovery wells
  • Impact of water flow in oil sands reservoirs on recovery process performance
  • Models for cold production
  • Reactive-compositional thermal reservoir process design (In situ combustion, in situ gasification)
  • Support vector machine learning for petrophysical analysis
  • Biofilm evolution in porous media
  • Bioprocess design
  • Anaerobic Microdigester-Thermoelectric Generators
  • In Situ Gasification of Coal

I am always looking for energetic and proactive graduate students and funded post-doctoral fellows (PDFs).  If you are interested, send me an email (please do not call) with a summary of your undergraduate/graduate grades and CV or resume plus a 1 page description of your research interests (total<2MB).  For PDFs, send papers as well.  If I am interested in you, I will contact you.

Courses I Teach or Have Taught

  • ENGG201:  Introduction to Properties of Fluids and Solids
  • ENCH315:  Process Engineering Calculation
  • ENCH401:  Analyses of Chemical, Oil and Gas Engineering Processes
  • ENPE523:  Introduction to Reservoir Engineering
  • ENPE511:  Final Year Oil and Gas Design Project I
  • ENPE531:  Final Year Oil and Gas Design Project II
  • ENPE571:  Unconventional Oil Exploitation (Heavy Oil/Oil Sands Reservoir Engineering)
  • ENCH619.90:  Applied Thermal Simulation (CSS, SAGD, SF, ISC, ...)

Awards

Third and Fourth Year Engineering Students Excellence in Teaching Award 2011

  • Student-Elected Award:  Awarded for excellence in teaching
  • Elected by third and fourth year chemical and oil & gas undergraduate students

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Round 6 Winner (Jointly with Dr. Michael Kallos, ChemE & PetE) 2011

Schulich School of Engineering Departmental Teaching Excellence Award 2010

  • Faculty Award:  Awarded for excellence in teaching within Department 

First and Second Year Engineering Students Excellence in Teaching Award 2010

  • Student-Elected Award:  Awarded for excellence in teaching ENGG201
  • Elected by first and second year undergraduate students

Schulich School of Engineering Common Core Teaching Excellence Award 2009

  • Faculty Award:  Awarded for excellence in teaching among Common Core Courses

Schulich School of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award 2009

  • Faculty Award:  Awarded for excellence in teaching over all Departments

Winner ASTECH 2009 Award: Category:  Outstanding Commercial Achievement in Alberta Science and Technology (gross sales < $25M)  for Gushor Inc. (University of Calgary Spin-off Company; co-Founder)

Dr. R.M. Butler Memorial Best Paper Award 2008 Winner; Presented 2009

  • Title:  Impact of Steam Trap Control on Performance of Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage
  • SPE/Petroleum Society of Canada, Canadian International Petroleum Conference

Early Research Excellence Award, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary 2009

  • Faculty Award:  Awarded for excellence in research

First and Second Year Engineering Students Excellence in Teaching Award 2008

  • Student-Elected Award:  Awarded for excellence in teaching ENGG201
  • Elected by first and second year undergraduate students

Dr. R.M. Butler Memorial Best Paper Award 2006 First Runner Up

  • Title:  The origin, prediction and impact of oil viscosity heterogeneity on the production characteristics of tar sand and heavy oil reservoirs
  • Petroleum Society of Canada, Canadian International Petroleum Conference

Oil and Gas Professor of the Year 2004

  • Student Elected Award:  Awarded for oil and gas engineering capstone design course
  • Elected by undergraduate students in final year of oil and gas engineering program

Book

Basic Reservoir Engineering by Ian D. Gates, First Edition 2011. ISBN: 978-0-7575-9062-7

Available at U. Calgary Bookstore or online (http://www.kendallhunt.com/store-product.aspx?id=22655)

Selected Publications

Kapadia, P.R., Kallos, M.S., and Gates, I.D. A New Kinetic Model for Pyrolysis of Athabasca Bitumen. Accepted. Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, May 2012.

Leskiw, C. and Gates, I.D. Monitoring of SAGD Steam Chamber Conformance by using White Noise Reflection Processes. Accepted. SPE Journal, April 2012.

Fairbridge, J.K., Cey, E., Gates, I.D. Impact of Intraformational Water Zones on SAGD Performance. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 82-83:187-197, 2012.

Tamer, M. and Gates, I.D. Impact of Different SAGD Well Configurations (Dover SAGD Phase B Case Study). Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology. 51(1):32-45, January/February 2012.

Al-Anazi, A. and Gates, I.D. Support Vector Regression to Predict Porosity and Permeability: Effect of Sample Size. Computers and Geosciences, 39:64–76, February 2012.

Gates, I.D. and Wang, J. The Evolution and Future of In Situ Oilsands Recovery Technology.  In Canadian Heavy Oil Association: The first quarter century of knowledge sharing and business networking, 1986-2011, published by JuneWarren Nickle's Energy Group in Partnership with the Canadian Heavy Oil Association, 74 p. February 2012.

Khansari, Z., Gates, I.D., Mahinpey, N. A Detailed Study of Low Temperature Oxidation of an Alaska Heavy Oil. Accepted. Energy and Fuels, February 2012.

Gotawala, D.R. and Gates, I.D. A Basis for Automated Control of Steam Trap Subcool in SAGD. Accepted. SPE Journal. January 2012.

Kapadia, P., Kallos, M.S., Gates, I.D. A New Reaction Model for Aquathermolysis of Athabasca Bitumen. Accepted. Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering. January 2012.

Van Winkle, A., Gates, I.D., Kallos, M. Mass Transfer Limitations in Embryoid Bodies during Human Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation. Cells Tissues Organs. Published online January 2012.  DOI: 10.1159/000330691

Bozorg, A., Sen, A., Gates, I.D. A New Approach to Model the Spatiotemporal Development of Biofilm Phase in Porous Media. Environmental Microbiology, 13(11):3010-3023, 2011.

Van Winkle, A.P., Gates, I.D., Kallos, M.S., “Small-scale Bioreactors for High-throughput Bioprocess Design of Embryonic Stem Cell Expansion Systems”, invited Chapter in the Book – Embryonic Stem Cells / Book 1 – InTech Open Access Publisher, Vienna, Austria, ISBN: 978-953-307-412-2 (June 2011)

Hunt, M., Alfred, R., Rancourt, D.E., Gates, I.D., Kallos, M.S., “Bioprocess Considerations for Expansion of Embryonic Stem Cells”, invited Chapter in the Book – Embryonic Stem Cells / Book 1 – InTech Open Access Publisher, Vienna, Austria, ISBN: 978-953-307-412-2 (June 2011)

Ezeuko, C.C., Sen, A., Grigoryan, A., and Gates, I.D. Pore-Network Modeling of Biofilm Evolution in Porous Media. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 108(10):2413–2423, 2011.

Kapadia, P.R., Kallos, M.S., and Gates, I.D. Potential for Hydrogen Generation from In Situ Combustion of Athabasca Bitumen. Fuel, 90:2254-2265, 2011.

Sharma, J. and Gates, I.D. Convection at the Edge of a SAGD Steam Chamber. SPE Journal, 16(3):503-512, 2011.

Gotawala, D.R. and Gates, I.D. Stability of the Edge of a SAGD Steam Chamber in a Bitumen Reservoir. Chemical Engineering Science, 66:1802-1809, 2011.

Sharma, J. and Gates, I.D. Interfacial Stability of In Situ Bitumen Thermal-Solvent Recovery Processes. SPE Journal, 16(1):55-64, 2011. 

Alturki, A., Gates, I.D., and Maini, B. On SAGD in Oil Sands Reservoirs with No Cap Rock. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 50(3):21-33, 2011.

Al-Anazi, A. and Gates, I.D. Support Vector Regression for Porosity Prediction in a Heterogeneous Reservoir: A Comparative Study. Computers and Geosciences, 36(12):1494-1503, 2010.

Gates, I.D. and Leskiw, C. Impact of Steam Trap Control on Performance of Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 75(1-2):215-222, 2010.

Gates, I.D. Solvent Aided Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage in Thin Oil Sands Reservoirs. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 74(3-4):138-146, 2010.

Gates, I.D., J. Adams and S. Larter, 2010, The impact of oil viscosity heterogeneity on production from heavy oil and bitumen reservoirs: geotailoring recovery processes to compositionally graded reservoirs, in S. Chopra, L.R. Lines, D.R. Schmitt and M. Batzle, eds., Heavy Oils: Reservoir Characterization and Production Monitoring, SEG Development Series XX, p263-271.

Al-Anazi, A. and Gates, I.D. A Support Vector Machine Algorithm to Classify Lithofacies and Model Permeability in Heterogeneous Reservoirs. Engineering Geology, 114:267-277, 2010.

Al-Anazi, A. and Gates, I.D. On the Capability of Support Vector Machines to Classify Lithology. Natural Resources Research, 19(2):125-139, 2010.  

Gotawala, D.R. and Gates, I.D. On the Impact of Permeability Heterogeneity on SAGD Steam Chamber Growth. Natural Resources Research, 19(2):151-164, 2010. 

Shad, S., Salarieh, M., Maini, B., and Gates, I.D. The Velocity and Shape of Convected Elongated Liquid Drops in Narrow Gaps. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 72(1-2):176-177, 2010. 

Sharma, J. and Gates, I.D. Multiphase Flow at the Edge of a Steam Chamber. Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 88(3):312-332,2010.

Al-Anazi, A. and Gates, I.D. Support Vector Regression for Permeability Prediction in a Heterogeneous Reservoir: A Comparative Study. SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering: Formation Evaluation, 13(3):485-495, 2010.

Shad, S. and Gates, I.D. Multiphase Flow in Fractures: Co-Current and Counter-Current Flow in a Fracture. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 49(2):48-55, 2010. 

Yang, X. and Gates, I.D. Design of Hybrid Steam-In Situ Combustion Bitumen Recovery Processes. Natural Resources Research, 18(3):213-233, 2009.

Shad, S., Gates, I.D., and Maini, B. Investigation and visualization of liquid-liquid flow in a vertically-mounted Hele-Shaw cell: flow regimes, velocity, and shape of droplets. Measurement Science and Technology, 20(2009) 114005, doi:10.1088/0957-0233/20/11/114005, 2009. 

Shad, S., Salerieh, M., Maini, B., and Gates, I.D. Velocity and Shape of Liquid Drops in Narrow Gaps. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 48(12):26-31, 2009.

Yang, X. and Gates, I.D. Combustion Kinetics of Athabasca Bitumen from 1D Tube Experiments. Natural Resources Research, 18(3):193-211, 2009.

Gotawala, D. and Gates, I.D. Steam Fingering in Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage. Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 86:1011-1022, 2008.

Gates, I.D. and Chakrabarty, N. Design of the Steam and Solvent Injection Strategy in Expanding-Solvent Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 47(9):12-19, 2008.

Gates, I.D., Adams, J.J., Larter, S.R. The impact of oil viscosity heterogeneity on the production characteristics of tar sand and heavy oil reservoirs. Part II: Intelligent, geotailored recovery processes in compositionally graded reservoirs. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 47(9):40-49, 2008.

Larter, S.R., Adams, J.J., Gates, I.D., Bennett, B., and Huang, H. The origin, prediction and impact of oil viscosity heterogeneity on the production characteristics of tar sand and heavy oil reservoirs. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 47(1):52-61, 2008.

Gates, I.D. Oil phase viscosity behaviour in expanding solvent steam-assisted gravity drainage. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 59:123-134, 2007.

Gates, I.D., Kenny, J., Hernandez-Hdez, I.L., and Bunio, G.L. Steam Injection Strategy and Energetics of Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage. SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering. 10(1):19-34, 2007.

Gates, I.D. and Chakrabarty, N. Optimization of Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) in Ideal McMurray Reservoir. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 45(9):54-62, 2006.

 

Patents

Pekurovsky, M.L., Sharp, S.D., Toftness, P.J., Gates, I.D., and Smart, J.A. Method of High Speed Coating Pigment-Containing Liquid Coating Materials. U.S. Patent 6,666,946 Issued 2003. 

Gates, I.D. and Gutek, A.M.H. Process for In Situ Recovery of Bitumen and Heavy Oil. U.S. Patent 7,464,756 Issued 2008. 

Gates, I.D. and Gutek, A.M.H. Process for In Situ Recovery of Bitumen and Heavy Oil. Canadian Patent 2,462,359 Issued 2008. 

Gates, I.D. and Bunio, G. In Situ Process to Recover Heavy Oil and Bitumen. Canadian Full Patent 2,553,297 Filed 2006. 

Gates, I.D., Larter, S.R., Adams, J.J. In Situ Heavy Oil and Bitumen Recovery Process (JAGD, Formerly Known As JAGASS). U.S. Patent 8,056,624 Issued 2011.  

Gates, I.D., Larter, S.R., Adams, J.J. In Situ Heavy Oil and Bitumen Recovery Process (JAGD, Formerly Known As JAGASS). Filed in Canada, U.S., PCT, Gulf Cooperation, and Venezeula.  2007. A research license for this technology has been issued by UTI in December 2008. 

Larter, S.R., Bennett, B., Snowdon, L., Jiang, D., Adams, J.J., Gates, I.D., and Noke, K.  Method for Measurement of Crude Oil and Bitumen Dead Oil Viscosity and Density (GVisc). Canadian Full Patent Filed 2007.  This technology is already generating revenues. 

Larter, S.R., Jiang, C., Oldenburg, T., Adams, J.J., Noke, K., Bennett, B., and Gates, I.D. Method and Apparatus for Obtaining Heavy Oil Samples from a Reservoir Sample (PLUNGER). Canadian Full Patent Filed 2007. Filed in U.S., Brazil, China, Russia, and Norway. 2009. This technology is already generating revenues. 

Larter, S.R., Gates, I.D., Adams, J.J., Jiang, C., Snowdon, L., Bennett, B., and Huang, H. Preconditioning an oilfield reservoir (BRUTUS). U.S. Full Patent Filed 2007. 

Gates, I.D. and Bunio, G. In Situ Process to Recover Heavy Oil and Bitumen. U.S. Patent Application Filed 2008. 

Gates, I.D., Larter, S.R., and Adams, J.J. Methods and Systems of Gas Production from a Reservoir (LEMUR) U.S. Full Patent Filed 2008. 

Gates, I.D., Wang, J., Larter, S.R., Adams, J.J., Lennox, R., Brunelle, P. Method to Sequester Acid Gases in Aquifers. U.S. Provisional Patent Filed 2008. Discontinued. 

Larter, S.R., Bennett, B., Snowdon, L.R., Jiang, C., Adams, J.J., Gates, I.D., Noke, K.J. Method for Determining a Value of a Property of Oil Extracted from a Sample. Filed: August 5, 2008. PCT/CA2008/001428. Publication Info: WO2009/023953 A1. National phase application filed February 12, 2009 in Canada. 

Larter, S., Jiang, C., Oldenburg, T., Adams, J., Noke, K., Bennett, B., Gates, I.D., Snowdon, L.R. Method and Apparatus for Obtaining Heavy Oil Samples from a Reservoir Sample. Filed: February 12, 2008. PCT/CA2008/000279. Publication Info: WO/2008/098359 A1. National phase applications filed August 2009 in Canada, United States, China, Brazil, Russia and European Patent Office.

Leskiw, C. and Gates, I.D. System and Method for using Orthogonally-Coded Active Source Signal for Reflected Signal Analysis. Provisional Patent US61309327, Filed March 5, 2010. 

 

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