Kwamena Opoku Duartey

PhD Student in Petroleum Engineering

Academic Advisors

Dr. William Ampomah & Dr. Hamid Rahnema

Kwamena Opoku Duartey is a PhD student in Petroleum Engineering at New Mexico Tech, where he conducts cutting-edge research with the Petroleum Research and Recovery Center as a research assistant. His research focuses on using oil and gas skills and techniques to solve challenges related to low-carbon energy technologies. His doctoral studies, supervised by Dr. William Ampomah and Dr. Hamid Rahnema, focused on integrated hydrodynamic and geochemical assessments of sustainable underground hydrogen storage in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico.

Kwamena Opoku Duartey attending the SPE Annual Technical and Exhibition Conference (ATCE) and engaging with industry experts on innovations and emerging technologies shaping the future of energy.

Kwamena’s research advances the understanding of underground hydrogen storage (UHS) by integrating experimental, numerical, and geochemical approaches to evaluate storage performance in the San Juan Basin. Through core flooding experiments, he investigates multiphase flow dynamics and hydrogen–brine displacement under reservoir conditions. These experimental insights are coupled with reservoir simulations to model the relative permeability, capillary pressure, and hydrogen migration pathways. In parallel, geochemical modeling is employed to assess the hydrogen reactivity with the formation minerals and brines, including potential impacts such as mineral precipitation and dissolution, dry-out, and microbial activity. By combining these methods, the work provides a comprehensive framework to evaluate the hydrodynamic containment, geochemical stability, and long-term security of hydrogen in reservoir formation, contributing to the safe deployment of UHS as a critical enabler of the energy transition. This research contributes to the U.S. Department of Energy’s regional initiative on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) in the Four Corners region, spanning New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado.

He holds an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, Italy, and a BSc in Petroleum Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. His professional journey includes engineering roles with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, and the Transocean Offshore Drilling Company, as well as a faculty appointment as a Lecturer at the University of Energy and Natural Resources in Ghana, where he taught and supervised students’ research work before embarking on his PhD. He has authored several technical papers in the field of drilling fluids, flow assurance and underground geological storage of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. With multiple peer-reviewed publications, active editorial board service, and peer-review contributions to journals including ACS Omega, Fuels, ASME, and the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Kwamena demonstrates a strong commitment to advancing global energy research. In recognition of his innovative research proposal, he was awarded the competitive DOE–New Mexico Consortium PhD Research Grant ($50,000), a major milestone supporting his doctoral studies in sustainable energy storage under the guidance of Dr. William Ampomah and Dr. Hamid Rahnema.

Beyond the lab and classroom, Kwamena is passionate about mentoring the next generation of scientists and engineers, volunteering as a judge for science fairs, and leading summer STEM programs at New Mexico Tech. In his free time, he enjoys playing and watching football, alongside other activities that keep him engaged with both sports and the community.

Kwamena conducting hydrogen–brine core flooding experiments under simulated reservoir conditions using an advanced core flooding system with integrated real-time monitoring.

Announcements

Time/Space to work on your thesis/dissertation

The Office of Graduate Studies will weekly announce on our website times when graduate students can come and work in our conference room on their thesis/dissertation. During this time you can focus on writing and you can ask questions as they come up whether about formatting, completion, copyright, plagiarism, etc. This is in addition to the services offered by the Writing & Communication Lab (WCL). If you are looking for writing support the WCL would be a much better resource. Please see below.

Writing & Communication Lab (WCL)

This is a tutoring resource committed to helping students become better writers and communicators through tailored and individual consultations. Tutors are experienced in STEM writing and offer consultations both in person and online, to undergraduate and graduate students. These resources are also available to our Distance Students as well so please take advantage.

Find the service's descriptions by visiting the following link

https://www.nmt.edu/academics/class/center.php

Important Dates

September 25th @ 5pm-7pm

Where: Deju University House

Graduate Students Welcome Event

October 8th @ 3pm-5pm

Where: In-person Jones Annex 101& Zoom

Degree Completion, Thesis/Dissertation Formatting, and Latex Workshop

This event is for all graduate students regardless of where you are in the process. In the first half of the workshop we will go over degree completion requirements and deadlines as well as formatting requirements for your thesis/dissertation. The second portion of the workshop we will go over how you can use Latex to efficiently write your thesis/dissertation and meet all the formatting requirements easily. Faculty are welcome and highly encouraged to attend and participate. Whether you just started your graduate degree or are close to finishing, there will be useful information that is critical for you to know so please make an effort to attend. If you are not able to attend, please use the following zoom link [here].

December 1st

Fall 2025 - Completion Paperwork

To graduate in Fall 2025, please ensure the following paperwork is submitted by December 1st, 2025:

Must have submitted your intent to graduate by midterm of the Summer semester or before

Thesis Submission: Submit the completed report of the advisory committee, the iThenticate report from your academic advisor, and the ProQuest submission of the final thesis/dissertation to the Center for Graduate Studies.

Independent Study: Submit one final copy of the accepted independent study paper to your advisor and advisory committee.

For more information, please refer to the Completion Guideline on the CGS website.

Student degrees are not complete until final materials have been approved by the Center for Graduate Studies and the student receives final acceptance via email from the ProQuest system. Students are encouraged to submit their thesis/dissertation drafts earlier to ensure that it will be accepted by the Registrar's deadline.

For more information please visit our Completion Webpage.

Scholarships and Other Opportunities

There are some Endowed scholarship opportunities open to graduate students, which are listed here on the Endowed Scholarship website. Native American graduate students should contact the Financial Aid Office for further information on additional scholarship opportunities (financial_aid@nmt.edu).

NSF NCAR Advanced Study Program (ASP) Graduate Visitor Program (GVP) Fellowship [click here for more info]

The NSF NCAR Advanced Study Program (ASP) Graduate Visitor Program (GVP) Fellowship offers an excellent opportunity for graduate students to spend time at NSF NCAR working on their thesis, dissertation, or final project equivalent, with guidance from NSF NCAR scientists and engineers. The GVP also provides a chance to develop research collaborations at NSF NCAR and to participate in professional development workshops and seminars. Applications close - November 9th, 2025

The National GEM Consortium’s graduate engineering and science fellowship programs [click here for more info]

GEM offers MS and Ph.D. level students an outstanding opportunity and access to dozens of the top Engineering and Science firms and Universities in the nation. The GEM Fellowship was designed to focus on promoting opportunities for individuals to enter industry at the graduate level in areas such as research and development, product development, and other high level technical careers. GEM also offers exposure to a number of opportunities in academia. 2025-2026 Fellowship cycle will be accepted until Friday, November 14th

NCUR 2026 is Now Accepting Abstract Submissions! [click here for more info]

To present at NCUR 2026, you must submit an abstract by the abstract deadline.

Hertz Fellowship [Click here for more info]

The Hertz Fellowship empowers the nation’s most promising doctoral students in applied science, engineering and mathematics. Hertz Fellows receive up to five years of funding—offering flexibility from the traditional constraints of graduate training and the independence needed to innovate—and lifelong professional support.