Research Scientist
Research Scientists
Current
Building 5, Level 3, 3226
Dr. Maxim Yutkin received his MSc in Chemistry from Novosibirsk State University and his PhD from the Nikolayev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Russia. His research focused on the fabrication and rational design of adsorbents for pharmaceutical separations.
Following a postdoctoral appointment at Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea, where he extended his research on stereoselective catalysis for pharmaceutical applications, Dr. Yutkin joined the Schlumberger Engineering and Development Center. At Schlumberger, he contributed to product developments such as HiWAY for shales.
In 2015, Dr. Yutkin joined the newly established Ali I. Naimi Petroleum Research Center (ANPERC, now the GEMs Platform) at KAUST as a Research Scientist. Dr. Yutkin played a pivotal role in the establishment of the center by developing the initial concept and by designing, sourcing, procuring, and commissioning major petrophysical equipment for the center, as well as solid-state NMR instrumentation, with a total value exceeding USD 5 million. Many of the existing experimental capabilities of the platform are due to Dr. Yutkin’s contributions.
At the early stage of the center’s establishment, he temporarily fulfilled several laboratory manager duties by liaising with electrical, HVAC, and civil teams for required building modifications; by providing training to students and researchers on newly installed equipment; and by establishing HSE practices. He further established the Energy Geosystems Group (EGG) laboratory under Professor Patzek from scratch, recruited most of the laboratory staff, planned its annual budget, and supervised the day-to-day activities of students and researchers. Dr. Yutkin has co-advised on five PhD theses, led international collaboration projects, and served as a co-PI on industry-funded research.
After Professor Patzek’s retirement in 2025, Dr. Yutkin joined the RockGem group led by Professor Finkbeiner. Currently, Dr. Yutkin is engaged in research and engineering projects on lithium extraction, CO₂ sequestration, complex chemical equilibria of calcium carbonate in subsurface systems, and water-based drilling muds.
Dr. Yutkin’s scientific interests are physicochemical applications in geoscience, reactive transport, adsorption, mineral dissolution kinetics and equilibria, petrophysics, interfacial phenomena, and surface chemistry. Dr. Yutkin integrates modeling and experimental research, effectively bridging theoretical concepts with practical applications.
Some illustrative examples include coreflood chromatography (experiments and modeling); polymer adsorption studies using quartz crystal microbalance techniques; contact-angle measurements and two-phase capillary flow; and modeling of chemical equilibria, ion exchange, and kinetics using PHREEQC and more.