McPherson, Brian J.
View PDF biography
Dr. Brian McPherson is the Principal Investigator and Director of the SWP, director of the Carbon Science and Engineering Research group at EGI (Energy & Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah), and an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Utah. As the PI of SWP, Dr. McPherson wrote all proposals for the Partnership project, including the Phase I proposal in 2003, the Phase II proposal in 2005, and the Phase III application in 2006. Professor McPherson spent the first nine years of his career at New Mexico Tech, and was full-time at New Mexico Tech when he formed the Southwest Partnership in 2003. In 2006, he took on a faculty post in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, but he continues a part-time appointment at New Mexico Tech to facilitate contractual administration.
For the past 10 years, Dr. McPherson has conducted carbon management and engineering research, especially geological sequestration studies, but including other modes of carbon management as well, such as biomimetic and other approaches. Technical focus areas include groundwater and reservoir simulation, multiphase flow analysis and simulation, rock deformation, and subsurface chemically reactive transport analysis and simulation. Dr. McPherson and his research group maintain a high pressure/high temperature laboratory capable of combined multiphase flow and rock mechanical response experimentation, and are currently conducting flow tests to quantify diagenetic changes on rocks during CO2 sequestration. Other research that Dr. McPherson continues to pursue includes coupled heat and fluid processes in sedimentary basins and geothermal systems, and petroleum generation and migration processes.
Education:
PhD, Geophysics, University of Utah (1996)
M.S., Geophysics, University of Utah (1992)
B.S., Geophysics, University of Oklahoma (1989)
Selected Publications:
B.J. McPherson and D.F. Boutt, 2007, Analysis of the role of fluids in causing fractures in the Spraberry Trend, Midland Basin, Geofluids, v.7, p. 415-426, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-8123.2007.00195.x
Liu, N., L. Li, B.J. McPherson, and R. Lee, 2008, Removal of organics from produced water by reverse osmosis using MFI-type zeolite membranes, Journal of Membrane Science, Volume 325, Issue 1, p. 357-361, ISSN 0376-7388, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2008.07.056.
Li, L., N. Liu, B.J. McPherson, and R. Lee, 2008, Influence of Counter Ions on the Reverse Osmosis Permeation of NaCl Solution through MFI Zeolite Membranes, Desalination, Volume 228, Issues 1-3, Pages 217-225. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2007.10.010.
Weon Shik Han and Brian J. McPherson, 2008, Comparison of Two Different Equations of State for Application of Carbon Dioxide Sequestration, Advances in Water Resources, v. 31, p. 877–890, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2008.01.011.
Sam Earman, Brian J.O.L. McPherson, Fred M. Phillips, Steve Ralser, James M. Herrin, James Broska, 2008, Tectonic Influences on Ground Water Quality: Insight from Complementary Methods, Ground Water, Vol. 46, No. 3, p. 354–371, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.2007.00402.x
McPherson, B. J. O. L. and Sundquist, E. T., 2009, editors, The Science and Technology of Carbon Sequestration, AGU Monograph Series, Publisher: American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., scheduled publication and print date: May, 2009.
Brian J.O.L. McPherson, Weon Shik Han and Barret S. Cole, 2008, Two equations of state assembled for basic analysis of multiphase CO2 flow and in deep sedimentary basin conditions, Computers & Geosciences, v. 34, p. 427–444, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2007.05.017.
David F. Boutt, Benjamin K. Cook, Brian J. O. L. McPherson, and J. R. Williams, 2007, Direct simulation of fluid-solid mechanics in porous media using the discrete element and lattice-Boltzmann methods, JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 112, B10209, doi:10.1029/2004JB003213.
L. Li, N. Liu, B.J. McPherson, and R. Lee, 2007, “Enhanced Water Permeation of Reverse Osmosis through MFI-type Zeolite Membranes with high Aluminum Contents,” Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 46, 1584-1589.