Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference Proceedings Volume 2014 Issue 1

Short introductive summary: Local hot and dusty environmental conditions in Qatar may seriously handicap the power yield and even the life span of PV modules. Qatar Foundation, GreenGulf and Chevron partnered in 2010 to establish the Solar Test Facility. Its purpose is to determine which solar technologies are most suited to Qatar, by measuring their energy production and response to heat and dust. The 35,000 m2 site was installed with crystalline silicon, thin film and concentrating PV technologies from multiple manufacturers. This site was commissioned in December 2012, and data has been recorded since March 2013. Preliminary results about the effect of soiling on power output of c-Si modules are presented in this work. Purpose of the work Local hot and dusty environmental conditions in Qatar may seriously handicap the power yield and even the life span of PV modules. QEERI is a new R&D institute, holding from Qatar Foundation, engaged in the boosting the deployment of renewable energy technologies in Qatar through research activities on the adaptation of solar equipment to the local conditions. Accelerated aging techniques, both indoor and outdoor, allow obtaining results in reasonably short testing periods for both: &Degradation of existing PV panel products &Validation of new solutions This works is intended to present first results of PV module outdoor performance under local weather conditions in Qatar. Approach 1.Collect field data about most relevant environmental factors with an influence on PV module degradation: &UV spectrum within solar radiation on ground &Dust composition and deposition rate &Other chemicals in the atmosphere, aerosols, salinity…. &Meteorological variables: temperature, relative humidity. 2.Design and implement engineering solutions to prevent PV modules performance and lifespan to be handicapped in hot climates as Qatar's one. 3.Set-up indoor and outdoor labs for accelerated aging and performance testing of PV modules, in addition to existing ones from the local company 'GreenGulf'. 4.Commercialize solutions through Qatar Foundation's dedicated mechanisms Scientific innovation and relevance New data about reliability and power yield of commercial PV modules under local conditions in Qatar are presented Results and Conclusions Qatar Foundation's 'Qatar Science and Technology Park' (QSTP), GreenGulf and Chevron partnered in 2010 to establish the Solar Test Facility. Its purpose is to determine which solar technologies are most suited to Qatar, by measuring their energy production and response to heat and dust. The 35,000 m2 site at QSTP was installed with crystalline silicon, thin film and concentrating PV technologies from multiple manufacturers. This site was commissioned in December 2012, and data has been recorded since March 2013. Preliminary results about the effect of soiling on power output of c-Si modules are presented in this work. QEERI is now joining this partnership to contribute through R&D capabilities to the country's success in renewables' roll-out.

In this paper, a high performance control system is designed for air to fuel ratio of a F-150 Ford truck with a V8 4.6L lean-burn SI engine, is reported as a process with considerable time varying delay. Two approaches have been widely employed to control processes with time-varying delays, (1) designing a feedback robust control system that maintains stability for the whole range of probable delays, which leads to the loss of performance, and (2) designing a feedback control system for a linear model approximated based on Pade formula, which increases the system's order by one and makes the system non-minimum-phase. This article presents a third approach. The basis of the proposed control method is a feedforward-feedback control system which is stable in both continuous and discrete domains for any high control gain in the absence of time delay. That is, theoretically, control gain can be arbitrarily high while maintaining closed loop stability; as a result, the sole source of performance restriction is the actuator limitation to attain high gains. However, in the presence of a time delay of Td, stability and performance analysis is valid only if the system output is known Td seconds in advance. A predictive algorithm with adaptive horizon is proposed to make system's output known upfront. This algorithm relies on the fact that time-varying delay can be identified in real-time for the investigated lean-burn engine as a function of its intake air mass flow rate and rotational speed. This algorithm forms the delay-compensation component of the control system. A filtered PID control system, designed for the same engine and reported in 2012, is compared with the proposed control system. In order to have realistic test scenarios, engine operating conditions are based on a typical Federal Test Procedure (FTP) results. Three different measurement noises are used in simulations. In all simulations with fixed and time-varying delays and with different noise scenarios, the proposed control system clearly outperform filtered PID control system with 22% to 48% less mean of absolute control error. The key success factor of the proposed control system is the employed predictive algorithm. This algorithm predicts the control error and let the control system act to avoid the error in advance. It is an advantage over all feedback control systems needing the measured signals to generate the feedback error, where a delay in measurement results in a delay in feedback error generation and a delay in action. The predictive algorithm largely relies on mathematical models; thus, the influence of parameter identification inaccuracies on overall control system performance may be a concern. In order to investigate this matter, parameters with intentionally wrong values were used in control system design to simulate parameter identification inaccuracies, tests showed an error up to ±20% in parameters identification of engine mathematical model increases the mean of absolute error by only 1%.

This paper presents a new concept for sustainable vegetable and fish production with limited use of land and low consumption of water and energy. The so-called AQ system is designed to support a food supply throughout the year, therefore independent on season and weather conditions. It is an environmentally friendly and energy efficient system with new agricultural approaches. The AQ system uses ~ 90% less water than traditional agricultural and fishery methods. Farming is based on recycling the water in the AQ system, therefore providing a self-sustainable water usage that is one of the crucial factors to follow in improving Qatar's water usage. The water consumption in this system is therefore designed to especially be implemented in the regions which suffer with fresh water supply and has limited agricultural growth by arable land, water and energy capabilities that are being rapidly consumed by the growing population in the region. The energy efficiency of the AQ system is achieved by using renewable energy operating systems such as solar panels and geothermal system, thus following Qatar's national security strategy in implementing economical alternates and renewable low carbon energy technologies. The AQ system is built on so called technology of green buildings, with the highest processing and operational standards, and environmentally friendly materials. Other advantages of the AQ system, is its sustainable vertical farming using advanced "green" and organic technologies for water reclamation and space-efficient cultivation. This approach provides higher yield in greenhouse space by avoiding generation of environmental pollutants. This is because the AQ system does not require use of pesticides, steroids or fertilizers, antibiotics, GMO seeds and feed, or similar, to achieve high production of vegetables and fish that therefore both contain high nutritional values. The AQ system is software driven technology thus supporting the rapid pace of IT infrastructure implementation in Qatar. Once the AQ installations are in place, they require low energy and low water supply, with low maintenance and can be operated by semi-skilled labor. The system exhibits no points of failure, and as such can operate continuous hours throughout the year.

Increase in energy demand and strict emission norms have always been the driving force to find clean-alternative energy sources. Gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel, a liquid fuel synthesized from natural gas, has grabbed the global attention in recent years for more fuel source diversity and its cleaner combustion characteristics, due to the absence of aromatics and Sulphur. The scope of synthetic fuel has widened further with the recent ASTM approval for blending it with conventional jet fuels. Furthermore, the successful maiden flight from London, UK to Doha, Qatar using a 50-50% blend of GTL fuel and conventional Jet A-1 fuel by Qatar airways has also enhanced the global interest on synthetic fuels derived from non-oil feedstocks. Under these circumstances, an academia-industry research consortium was formed under the auspices of Qatar Science and Technology Park to evaluate the feasibility of using GTL as an alternative jet fuel in aviation gas turbine engines. This presentation briefly discusses the role and objectives of different research collaborators involved under the research consortium with specific emphasis on the GTL spray research activities performed at TAMUQ. The GTL fuel physical and chemical properties are different from those of the conventional jet fuels. This difference can potentially alter the atomization characteristics of the fuel which in turn affects the fuel evaporation, mixing with oxidizer, combustion, and emission aspects. Therefore it is essential to have a thorough knowledge on the atomization characteristics of GTL fuels in order to better understand their latter processes. In this work, the microscopic spray characteristics such as droplet size, distribution, and velocity, of GTL fuels are measured at atmospheric conditions at global and local levels using Global Sizing Velocimetry (GSV) and Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA) techniques. Details about the experimental facility, measurement techniques, experimental conditions, fuel properties, and their spray characteristics will be discussed and the results of GTL spray study are compared with those of the conventional Jet A-1 fuel. The results of this test campaign indicates a clear difference in spray characteristics between GTL and Jet A-1 fuel in the near nozzle regions and similar patterns for further downstream. Although the spray characteristics measured at atmospheric conditions may be considered as a merit of the GTL fuel study on its own, it may not provide direct conclusion on the spray characteristics of the fuel at actual combustor operating conditions. However, it further highlights the importance of the newly awarded NPRP research work at TAMUQ to study spray characteristics of GTL at actual combustor operating conditions as the volatilization characteristics play a much larger role. Such results combined with the results of this work enables engineers to separate the hydrodynamic effects of spray from those more closely related to chemical characteristics.

ABSTRACT Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been recognised as the best possible means for effective management of CO2 generated from industrial activities. The study of porosity and permeability has been given prime importance since it governs the storage or in other words prevents leakage of CO2 into the other formations and back into atmosphere. It has been depicted that such interaction of injecting CO2 leads to salt precipitation, which in turn affect the porosity and permeability of the rock. Hence, it becomes essential to investigate the interactions amongst the rock-brine (water) present in the reservoir and CO2. The location of the salt precipitants depends on the competition of advective and capillary forces on the aqueous fluid phase transporting brine to the drying front [1, 2]. In our study, we consider drying process of reservoir brine that takes place in fractured porous media. Initially, CO2 starts to dry the matrix-fracture interface. The deposition of salt at the exposed fracture face driven by capillary flow of the liquid phase in the porous matrix could cause a seal to develop and reduce the storage capacity of an aquifer which in certain circumstances could lead to a reduction in the fracture permeability. Dry out experiments of different solutions are carried out on cores with one face exposed to represent a fractured system. The morphology and the exact location of the precipitate at the fracture-matrix interface on the pore scale require imaging. These images are used in numerical to calculate the permeability reduction in our samples due to salt precipitation and compare the predictions to experimental measurements on the salt deposits [3]. REFERENCES 1.Peysson, Y., Bazin, B., Magnier, C., Kohler, E., and Youssef, S., “Permeability alteration due to salt precipitation driven by drying in the context of CO2 injection” Energy Procedia, (2011), 4: 4387-4394. 2.Ott, H., de Kloe, K., Marcelis, F., and Makurat, A., “Injection of supercritical CO2 in brine saturated sandstone: Pattern formation during salt precipitation” Energy Procedia, (2011), Volume 4, Pages 4425-4432 3.Yang, J., Boek, E.S., “A comparison study of multi-component Lattice Boltzmann models for flow in porous media applications”, Computers & Mathematics with Applications, Volume 65, Issue 6, March 2013, Pages 882-890, ISSN 0898-1221

Karst is ubiquitous on the peninsula of Qatar, including depressions, sinkholes, and caves. Aerial reconnaissance indicates that the widespread depressions, sinkholes, and caves reveal NE-SW and NW-SE orientations, similar to the joint and fracture systems. Faulting and fractures play a major role in the development of karst, where fluids find pathways through limestone and dissolve the host rock. The resulting fissures may grow larger as more surface water is funneled through to form cavities or karst. Sinkholes may also form, when cavern roofs collapse, and it is this last characteristic that is of concern to rapidly growing metropolitan areas, that expand in heretofore unexplored regions. Qatar has seen a recent boom in construction, including the planning and development of complete new sub-sections of metropolitan areas. Before planning and construction can commence, the development areas need to be investigated to determine their suitability for the planned project. Of particular concern to construction projects are ubiquitous karst features that are prone to collapse, particularly when surface loading is increased due to construction. In this study, we present a spectral-based analysis to seismically detect the presence of karst-like subsurface void in Doha, Qatar. Seismic waves are well suited for karst detection and characterization. Voids represent high-contrast seismic objects that exhibit strong responses due to incident seismic waves. However, the complex geometry of karst, including shape and size, makes their imaging nontrivial. While karst detection can be reduced to the simple problem of detecting an anomaly, karst characterization can be complicated by the 3D nature of the problem of unknown scale, where irregular surfaces can generate diffracted waves of different kind. In our current project we use an innovative approach to detect and characterize subsurface voids by spectral seismic analysis. We devised an iterative approach to progress from symmetrically shaped subsurface voids with known geometry to more complex geometries and finally to realistic karst features. In the current paper, we present results from a seismic imaging experiment of a vertical water-collection shaft located on the campus of Qatar University. The experiment consisted of four seismic lines, including two geophone and two source lines, oriented in a rectangular geometry surrounding the water-collection shat. The seismic source was a 10 kg sledge hammer, while the geophones consisted of three-component 10 Hz sensors. Seismic source and geophone spacing was 0.5 m, while each line was 15.5 long. The water collection shaft had a diameter of 2.7 m and an approximate depth of 4 m. Seismic waves scattering off the shaft were visible in ambient noise records and in unprocessed data generated by the seismic source. We will present the results of our novel approach using spectral analysis of scattered seismic wave to determine the location and to estimate the volume and dimensions of the water-collection shaft.

Mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy is a versatile and important tool for the analytics of liquids. Conventional absorption spectroscopy is based on exact intensity measurements to reveal information about the measured components. Therefore, stable light sources are needed for the detection of weakly absorbing, i.e. diluted substances. Often the strong absorption of the solvent itself makes exact measurements even more difficult. Moreover, it limits traditional spectroscopies using thermal light sources to selected spectral regions and solvents. The development of commercial widely tunable quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) has opened up new possibilities in mid-infrared vibrational spectroscopy. QCLs were first demonstrated in 1994 [1] and offer orders of magnitude (~104) more power compared to thermal light sources. This facilitates the use of measurement cells with path lengths > 100 µm for transmission measurements - an important requirement for fast process analytical applications. For instance a strongly absorbing aqueous solution of the amino acid proline (OD > 3) could successfully be measured [2]. Despite their high optical power and compact rugged design, QCLs are often plagued by intensity fluctuations, which limit the achievable sensitivity in absorption measurements. Here, two spectroscopic methods based on QCLs are presented. Both make use of the total internal reflection and can be adapted for fast process applications like online monitoring of water quality. First an QCL-based version of the so called Fiber Evanescent Field Analysis (FEFA) [3] is demonstrated [4], a special ATR-technique, where the light is guided inside an optical fiber. Due to the good collimation of the radiation emitted by the laser coupling losses can minimized. This makes QCLs an ideal light source for the FEFA-spectroscopy. Shown are the application and the results of this technique to the online-detection of water contaminations with pesticides. The second method is a form of MIR refractometry also making use of the total internal reflection. Changes in the beam profile after the reflection are used to simultaneously determine the refractive index and the absorption of the analyte without the need for an absolute detection of the intensity. This makes the method immune against intensity fluctuations of the laser. The principle is demonstrated with measurement results for dichloromethane (DCM), which exhibits a single absorption band in the examined spectral region. The work was funded by the Fraunhofer program ATTRACT (Grant 692247) and the cooperation project IRLSENS (BMBF, FKZ 13N11034). References: [1] J. Faist, F. Capasso, D. L. Sivco, C. Sirtori, A. L. Hutchinson, A. Y. Cho; Science 264 (1994) 553 - 556 [2] S. Lüdeke, M. Pfeifer, P. Fischer; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133 (2011) 5704 - 5707 [3] T. Beyer, P. Hahn, S. Hartwig, W. Konz, S. Scharring, A. Katzir, H. Steiner, M. Jakusch, M. Kraft, B. Mizaikoff; Sensors and Actuators B 90 (2003) 319-323 [4] A. Lambrecht, M. Pfeifer, W. Konz, J. Herbst, and F. Axtmann; Analyst 139 (2014) 2070 - 2078 [5] M. Pfeifer, A. Ruf, P. Fischer; Optics Express 21 (2013) 25643 - 25654

It is well known that for solar cell back contacts CdTe forms a Schottky barrier when it is contacted directly to a metal.Therefore an interlayer is needed to provide low ohmic contact resistance. Due to its strong p-type character, narrowing the Schottky barrier and therefore allowing holes to tunnel through, Sb2Te3 is a promising material. Furthermore, the use of such a Cu-free back contact material might enhance the stability of the solar cell. However, the fabrication of Sb2Te3 can be challenging due to Te re-evaporation from the hot substrate, significantly complicating stoichiometry and property control. Therefore, the nanoalloying growth method was used for the first time to fabricate the back contact layers. This method is based on the stoichiometric deposition of element layers on a cold substrate and afterwards the application of a low-temperature annealing process in which compound formation takes place. We discuss the properties of single Sb2Te3 films and present performance studies on superstrate-based CdTe solar cells with nanoalloyed Sb2Te3 back contacts. High quality single-phase Sb2Te3 with large grain sizes, carrier mobilities > 400 cm²/Vs and large Seebeck coefficients was obtained. Changing deposition parameters allows to influence the texture and to adjust the carrier concentration, demonstrating the flexibility of the method. An efficiency of 11.7% was achieved with Sb2Te3/Cu/Mo back contact and with Sb2Te3/Cu/Au contact in a first experimental series with significant potential for further optimization.

Since the design of the first working solar cell in 1954, silicon has been the material of choice for the fabrication of efficient, durable yet cost effective solar devices. The tremendous progress of microelectronic industry made it possible to engineer the properties of the materials and the large scale fabrication of silicon devices at low cost. Yet, the cost of the energy produced by PV technology remains significantly higher than that produced from fossil fuels. Strategies to lower the cost include the reduction of the amount of materials by using thin films, the development of novel fabrication processes that are not based on vacuum technologies and the quest of novel abundant, non toxic alternative materials. Perovskite hybrid cells have recently emerged as potential alternative to silicon based devices. However, major challenges remain before a perovskite cell becomes available on the market. We describe in this work some of these challenges and our recent contribution to enhance the power conversion efficiency by replacing the moisture sensitive hole transport material layer a by more resistant and cheaper organic material.

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Qatar National Research Fund (project n. NPRP 5 - 873 - 5 - 133) It is now widely accepted that investment in renewable energy sources is one of the most effective solutions to amend the emission of greenhouse gasses. By providing emission-free and sustainable energy, these energies are main alternatives to fossil fuels. Yet, notwithstanding the advantages and the fact that they have experienced a substantial growth over the last decade, renewable energy market penetration still remains below the levels judged necessary to effectively curb C02 emissions. Increasing RE penetration requires therefore that concerned actors such as RE companies and policy makers develop a more thorough understanding of the factors that affect the RE diffusion process. To that end, in this study we adopt a new technology diffusion perspective to shed further light on the factors that may hamper or accelerate the diffusion of a specific type of renewable energy: photovoltaic systems (PV). We especially discuss and examine the impact of the following factors: i) the type of PV-related information acquired by individuals before adoption which is either customized (face to face contact, talking, etc.) or non customized information (article readings, ads, etc.); ii) information channel, either commercialized (information from PV suppliers) or non commercialized channels (information from other sources) iii) the total amount of PV-related information acquired by individuals before adoption iv) economic value of PV system v) technological uncertainty and vi) the perceived degree of competition in the PV supply market. We put forth a conceptual model of PV diffusion and we test it using primary data obtained through a survey of the actual clients, prospect and potential customers of a large European utility that also sells PV systems. Both Prospect and Potentials do not have the PV system but prospect asked for the quote. We used a set of logit models to estimate the impact of the above factors on the adoption likelihood for prospect and potential customers, and also to compare clients with prospects and prospect with potentials. The analysis provides interesting insights, particularly with respect to the time value of different information dimensions. The results indicate that the value of information varies over the time. For example customized information has positive effect on the adoption decision, and information coming from commercialized channels has positive effect on becoming a prospect. Second, our results show that, contrary to expectations, increasing the number of market competitors decreases the probability of adoption, possibly because potential adopters defer their adoption decision when the number of available alternatives increases beyond a certain limit. Altogether, our results indicate that - in addition to focusing on improving technological effectiveness and reducing system cost, RE providers should pay a lot of attention to the way they organize their distribution channels and to how they design their marketing campaigns.

Thermal energy storage systems are crucial for reducing dependency on fossil fuels and minimizing CO2 emissions. The building sector is a major sector responsible for producing high levels of CO2 in most countries (including Qatar). Thermal energy storage can be accomplished either by using sensible heat storage or latent heat storage components. Latent heat storage is more attractive than sensible heat storage because of its high storage density with smaller temperature fluctuations.[1] The materials able to utilize latent heat which can undergo phase changes (usually solid to liquid changes) at relatively low temperatures, while absorbing or releasing high amounts of energy are called phase change materials (PCMs).[2] Most promising PCMs are paraffin waxes which contain saturated hydrocarbon mixtures. They are frequently used due to their numerous advantages such as high latent heat of fusion, negligible super-cooling, and chemical inertness.[3,4] In this contribution, thermal properties of the PCMs based on linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), different types of paraffin waxes with melting points, 25 oC and 42 oC, and expanded graphite (EG) were characterized by unique transient guarded hot plate technique (TGHPT), which allow to identified thermal properties of large sized samples[5] in comparison with commonly used ifferential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It was confirmed that all prepared PCMs were able to store and release huge amount of thermal energy. The 25 % increase of capacity to store and release a thermal energy was observed by PCMs contains paraffin wax with melting point 25 oC in comparison with paraffin wax with melting point 42 oC. Also reproducibility of storage and release heat of the PCMs by repeating of heating and cooling process has been demonstrated. Moreover, the increase of the EG content in the PCMs led to the increase of thermal conductivity from 0.24 W/mK for PCMs without EG to 1.3 W/mK for PCMs contain 15 wt.% of EG. Additionally, life cycle assessment of prepared PCMs has been demonstrated to identify the effects of these new materials on the Qatar environment. Our results indicate that using of PCMs in building industry can reduce emission of CO2 up to 10%. Keywords: phase change materials; latent heat; storage and release energy; thermal conductivity; life cycle assessment Acknowledgement: This contribution was made possible by NPRP Grant # 4-465-2-173 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors References: [1]Soaresa N, Costab JJ, Gaspar AR, Santos P. Energy Build 59 (2013) 82-103. [2]Krupa I, Mikova G, Luyt A.S. Europ. Polym. J. 43 (2007) 4695-4705. [3]Kenisarin M, Mahkamov K. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 11 (2007) 1913-1965. [4]Lachheb M, Karkri M, Albouchi F, Nasrallah S, Fois F, Sobolciak P. Composites: Part B 66 (2014) 518-525. [5]Karkri M, Boudenne A, Ibos L, Garnier B, Candau Y. High Temp.-High Press. 40 (2011) 61-84.

The development of future ultra-low emission combustion strategies is necessary in order to strengthen the security of energy supply and address the rising concerns over the health and environmental effects due to pollutant combustion emissions. The imposition of legislation, which places strict limits on pollutant emissions from combustion systems around the world, is designed to reduce the dependence on petroleum based fossil fuels, and indicates the need to diversify towards sustainable and cleaner burning fuels. Natural gas and hydrogen stand out as two potential alternatives for the currently used petroleum based fuels. Natural gas has the highest carbon to hydrogen ratio than any other fossil fuel and, therefore, releases relatively few by-products (CO2 and particulates) into the atmosphere as pollutants on combustion. Hydrogen is the ultimate a ‘zero carbon emission’ fuel with a relatively high energy density; however, hydrogen is not naturally available in the way that natural gas is and requires and investment to produce, and can therefore be used to complement natural gas combustion. The work presents an experimental investigation of diesel fuel co-combustion with both natural gas and hydrogen, carried out on a modern, naturally aspirated, direct injection diesel engine. The engine was supplied with a range of methane-diesel fuel, hydrogen-diesel fuel and methane-hydrogen-diesel fuel mixtures and the effect on combustion and exhaust emissions was investigated. At low to medium engine loads, the results showed a decrease in particulates, NOx and CO2 exhaust emissions as diesel fuel was replaced by methane-hydrogen mixtures. At high engine loads and relative to diesel only combustion, NOx emissions increased steeply, which was attributed to the combined diesel fuel and methane-hydrogen mixture co-combustion temperatures exceeding the threshold temperature for NOx emissions. In addition, an in-cylinder gas sampling technique was utilised with the research engine to gain a greater level of insight into the process of energy release and emissions formations in the gas of hydrogen methane diesel co-combustion than is afforded by the measurement of engine exhaust. The engine was supplied with a range of hydrogen-diesel fuel and methane-diesel fuel mixtures, and in-cylinder gas sample composition was investigated at two sampling locations; within the diesel fuel spray and between adjacent spray cones. Concentrations of NOx were found to be higher between the two diesel sprays relative to within the spray cone for both hydrogen and methane addition. In the case of hydrogen-diesel fuel co-combustion, the measured particulate levels were observed to be higher in the diesel fuel spray relative to between two sprays; however, in the case of methane-diesel fuel co-combustion, higher particulate levels were measured in the region between the two sprays. This was attributed to methane contributing significant quantities of particulates (unlike hydrogen) to the total particulate concentration produced from the methane-diesel fuel mixture in between two sprays.

Conducting biodiversity surveys is expensive and time consuming and we cannot always invest as much time as needed conducting field work. To compensate for such deficiencies, scientists can benefit from advanced techniques of species distribution modelling. Data on species distribution is essential for the correct conservation and management of the species and their habitats. The objective of this study has been to predict the distribution range of four lizard species in Qatar that were found in few locations during field surveys conducted in 2012-2013, and that we believe that could be present in a larger range. The species examined were: the Schmidt´s fringe-toed lizard, Acanthodactylus schmidti (with 18 field observations), the toad-headed agama, Phrynocephalus arabicus (with 27 field observations), the Arabian sand gecko, Stenodactylus arabicus (with 22 field observations) and the Eastern skink, Scincus mitranus (with 8 field observations). The four species have been only observed in the southern part of the Qatar country. To make predictions about the potential distribution of these lizard species we used climatic data obtained from the WorldClim database, and remote sensing data (Landsat 8 Image), from which we obtained high resolution data as surface temperature, and other features derived from the land surface reflectivity at different wavelenghts. We generated new maps for the four lizard species in Qatar based on different ecological niche models (ENMs). All these models appeared to be ‘good’, with a AUC value >0.8. There are not significant differences between bioclimatic and remote-sensing maps. However the bioclimatic maps were the ones that visually matched better with the observed distribution of the species. Furthermore, bioclimatic maps can be less reliable due to the low number of climatic observatories in the area used to build the databases. We found some differences between the predicted distribution maps depending on the environmental covariates used, being the relative rank between pairs of maps of any species always near 0.5. Despite the limitations of the models, they appear to be a good predictive tool for lizard distribution ranges. Future advances in the knowledge of the environment together with environmental and climatic maps of higher resolution will improve ecological niche modelling in Qatar.

The overall municipal organic waste in Qatar accounts for 57% of municipal waste generated annually. Organic solid wastes such as food, newspapers, packaging, furniture woods and wood from building demolition have traditionally been placed in landfill, which create issues of sustainability for a country like Qatar with small land mass. While the recently opened Doha solid waste treatment facility contributed to alleviating the pressure on Landfill sites through composting and incineration, new value-added use of solid organic waste are needed for environmental and economic sustainability. Fortunately, biochars from mixed organic solid wastes can be used in soil amendment for food security and long term carbon sequestration for environmental sustainability. We hypothesize that deficiencies in depleted Qatari soils can be remedied by the application of biochars that are custom-designed to possess the right physicochemical characteristics suitable to improve soil fertility. Hence, this study was conducted to (1) Optimize production of biochars from mixed organic waste for desired physicochemical characteristics as soil enhancers. (2) Produce and characterize designer biochars using optimum production conditions for testing in soil incubation experiments. Select municipal organic wastes (newspaper, cardboard, woodchips and landscaping residues) individually and in a 25% blend were used as a precursor for biochar preparation. These residues were chosen due to their commonality in municipal solid waste streams. A complete 5 × 3 × 3 factorial design was used in this study with five biochar precursors (the 4 solid waste materials and a 25% blend/mixture), 3 sets of pyrolysis temperatures (350, 500, and 750°C) and 3 sets of pyrolysis residence time (2, 4 and 6 hrs). Data obtained showed that biochar yield was in the range of 21- 62% across all feedstocks and pyrolysis conditions. The highest yield was observed in newspaper-based biochars pyrolized at 350°C for 2 hrs. Key parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity bulk density and surface area, which positively improve water and nutrient-holding capacity in biochar-amended soil, varied depending on the precursors and production conditions. Bulk density was high in woodchips-based biochars but was similar among all other biochars, irrespective of precursors and pyrolysis conditions. The total surface area of biochars was low but showed dramatic increase in all feedstocks at 700°C pyrolysis temperature. The highest electrical conductivity observed in cardboard-based biochars pyrolized at 700C. Biochars produced from selected waste precursors were acidic except those produced at 700°C temperature where pH became alkaline. The wide range of biochar pH suggests potential tailoring to remediate the specific soil acidity. Cumulatively, biochars showed promising results for improving soil fertility parameters such as better water holding capacity, pH stabilization, and increased electrical conductivity of soil for better aggregation. These findings indicate that solid organic municipal wastes hold promising potential as precursors for manufacturing of value-added biochars with varied physicochemical characteristics allowing them to be used not only as an alternative to bio-waste management and greenhouse gas mitigation but also as means to improve depleted Qatari soil as the country embarks on its ambitious goals of ensuring food security and environmental sustainability.

In line with its National Vision for 2030, Qatar plans to integrate renewable energy sources, solar in particular, to its energy production chain, and an accurate knowledge of the solar resources available at ground level is essential for reliable planning and implementation of any project using solar energy as fuel. The amount of solar radiation that can be harvested on the earth's surface is not simply what is emitted by the sun; the losses due to absorption and scattering in the earth's atmosphere affect the amount and characteristics of the radiation reaching the surface. The global solar radiation (called GHI) reaching a horizontal surface is composed of the radiation coming directly from the sun (DNI) and the diffuse or scattered radiation (DHI); the relative proportions of these components are crucial factors in deciding the type of solar technology more adequate for any region under consideration. QEERI, the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, is starting a comprehensive solar resource assessment of Qatar in collaboration with the Qatar Meteorological Department, in which these three components will be measured and studied. To this end, QEERI has been operating in Doha, since December 2012, a high-precision Kipp and Zonen solar monitoring station based on thermoelectric effect sensors. In parallel, a Rotating Shadow-band Radiometer (RSR), based on a different technology (solid-state silicon sensor), is being tested at the same location. An RSR requires less maintenance and power than the Kipp and Zonen station, which might make it suitable for remote site placement, but its performance in Qatar's conditions must be evaluated before using it for high-quality studies. This work presents results of the first two years of data provided by the high-precision station, in order to give a first insight of the solar climate of Qatar, useful in deciding the type of technology most suitable for the country. A study of the field performance of the RSR in determining the three components against the measurements of the Kipp and Zonen station is also presented; this comparison will allow for the calibration and validation of the potential use of the RSR technology for solar resource assessment under Qatar's climate conditions.

Nanocomposites are commonly used in many applications and new processing techniques are required to improve mechanical and physical properties of these materials. Graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) have high aspect ratio and can maximize stress transfer in the composite. GNPs were added to linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) at different weight percentage and different feeding and extruder speeds. 1,2,4,6,8 and 10% of graphene nanoplateletes loading were used for preparing the composites. Extruder and feeder speed were 50rpm,100rpm and 150 rpm. Higher content of GNPs and higher speed slightly improved crystallinity temperature due to the reduction of the agglomerates at higher speed and easy production of nucleation zones. Higher speeds improved the thermal degradation temperature as new barrier layers are formed and increase in thermal and electrical conductivity due to the good distribution of the fillers in the polymer matrix. Increase by 48% of tensile testing was achieved with the highest speed and 4% addition of GNPs. This enhancement in mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of GNPs/LLDPE nanocomposites achieved at high extruder speed with GNPs via melt mixing can open the door to industrial manufacturing of economical novel materials with superior tensile strength, thermal stability and electrical conductivity. Acknowledgements: This research was made possible by NPRP grant (NPRP5-039-2-014) from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statement made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.

Mercury is one of the most detrimental by-products of industrial activities such as fossil fuel combustion and mining. In this study, photocatalytic reduction of mercury (II) to elemental mercury in two types of titanium dioxide (TiO2) was investigated. Photocatalysis involves a material's ability of creating an electron-hole pair after its exposure to solar radiation with photon energy higher than that of the applied photocatalyst, resulting in photogenerated free-radicals at the positive holes and electrons at the conduction band. These radicals can efficiently reduce or oxidize certain contaminants. Photocatalysis is a convenient method for reducing mercury (II) since it utilizes inexpensive chemicals and solar energy, an energy source found abundantly in Qatar. Laboratory experiments were conducted in both batch and continuous flow systems and two different types of titanium dioxide were evaluated for Hg(II) reduction; commercially available nanoparticles and lab-synthesized nanotubes. A microwave digestion technique was used to synthesize the nanotubes. The surface properties of the two types of TiO2 were characterized using surface analysis techniques, including: transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). To achieve efficient hole-transfer, formic acid was selected as the hole-scavenger in the experiments. Control experiments were performed in the absence of light to assess the efficiency of photocatalysis versus direct adsorption. Effects of pH, amount of hole-scavengers, initial mercury concentration, photocatalyst dose, and irradiation time on Hg(II) removal were evaluated. Preliminary results indicate that mercury removal efficiency using synthesized nanotubes is higher than that when the commercially available nanoparticles were used. While the nanoparticles removed about 80% of the initial mercury (II) concentration, synthesized nanotubes removed approximately 97% after 30 minutes of reaction time. At low concentrations of titanium dioxide, results showed that formic acid enhanced the removal of mercury (II) by 20%. In the absence of light, results showed near-to-no adsorption of Hg(II) on titanium dioxide, while a small amount (4%) of adsorption occurred in the presence of formic acid. This implies that there was no complexation of mercury with TiO2 particles or formic acid, and that photocatalytic reduction was the main mechanism for Hg(II) removal.

The deposition behavior of asphaltic material from Abu Dhabi crude oil induced by electrodeposition onto graphite electrodes in direct current (DC) electric fields was investigated experimentally. A mixture of dead crude oil and synthetic brine of 280k ppm salinity was utilized. Two electrodes were immersed in the crude oil sample and a DC current with three current densities of 10, 20, and 30 A/m2 was applied. The electrodes hanged from two load cells used to record deposits mass with experiment time. The effect of different operating conditions such as current density and experiment time on asphaltene electrodeposition has been examined. Anodic and cathodic deposits were observed at different operating conditions. The results revealed that asphaltic nature deposits were detected on the anode; hence, they possess net negative charge. The mass of deposits on the electrodes increased with experiment time and current density, however, the increase rate was faster at higher current density and experiment times below 10 hrs. No charge alterations noticed with increasing run time and current density. A maximum of 18% of original asphaltic material in crude oil sample was arrested on the anode. The solid asphaltic deposits were analyzed by SEM imaging. Electrodeposition has the potential to induce asphaltene deposition from targeted Abu Dhabi crude oils in the presence of brine. Electrodeposition can be utilized as a technique to solve asphaltene deposition problem.

The Arab States of the Gulf (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates) are rapidly developing and facing an increasing human population with certain insufficiencies in water and energy. They have also developed very high per capita energy consumption rates depending on fossil fuel that requires per contra a real contribution to minimize carbon dioxide emissions and air pollution. Patterns of energy use in buildings vary from one region to another. In the GCC, high energy consuming air conditioners, as well as a lack of thermal insulation in buildings together with low energy prices have led to high per capita energy consumption rates, leaving Qatar, with 55.4 tones' of carbon dioxide per person, has the highest footprint globally (about 10 times the global average) in the region. Qatar is followed by Kuwait, the UAE and Bahrain, which are ranked third, fourth and fifth in the world. It is known that available technologies could reduce projected energy use in buildings 41% by 2050, thereby avoiding 11.5 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2, or roughly 40% of current global fossil CO2 emissions, according to one estimation of International Energy Agency (IEA 2009a). Pacific Controls - an instruments firm Dubai-based, found that energy use in buildings can be cut by a collective 20 percent through certain energy conservation concerning insulation, efficient windows and appliances, shading, reflective roofing, and a host of automated controls that adjust energy use. The United States Green Building Council estimates that green building, on average reduces energy use by 30 percent, and carbon emissions by 35 percent. The public facility building considered in this work was chosen as a model for energy assessment/audit to define the saving potentials based on several performance indices that are defined to compare the energy and environmental performance. Various assessment, monitoring and optimization methods where applied to conclude that energy saving of approximately 55% of the currently energy use is possible.

This study is about a two-stage stochastic LNG inventory routing and scheduling problem under weather disruptions which can cover all contract durations including long-term, short-term and spot demand. We consider a fleet of heterogeneous LNG carriers with partial tank filling capability of cargoes to travel multiple customers in routes. In this case, as it has to satisfy numerous customers in a route, the sailing time of an assigned vessel may be longer than the time from the current transportation model which serves single demand point. Understanding the ideas of this model made us to pay attention on boil-off gas (BOG) losses during voyage so that the resulting model can be more accurate in estimating the overall shipping cost. The stochastic approach aims to use historical information to find a stable solution that withstands disruptions caused by dust storm in Persian Gulf as a test-bed. The proposed LNG scheduling model formulated as a multiple vehicle routing problem (VRP) considering weather disruptions as a random variable. Since the stochastic VRP is combinatorial optimization problem in nature, we use Monte Carlo sampling technique to overcome the computational burden while ensuring good quality of solutions. Performance of our approach was compared against the deterministic counterpart using two performance measures: expected value of perfect information (EVPI) and value of stochastic solution (VSS).

Power consumption and energy density, energy consumption per unit volume, for power consuming devices has sharply increased in the last 50 years. Moreover, further advances and miniaturization of electronic components have led to increased energy density in the electronic equipment that necessitates better cooling strategies of these systems. As computers became larger and more complex, cooling of the active components becomes a critical factor for reliable operation and can consume a large portion of the total power consumption of the system. Furthermore, data centers use about %2 of the world's electricity supply, with nearly half of this amount dedicated for cooling of the computing equipment. One of the biggest and most expensive challenges for these centers, and a larger environmental concern, has become these cooling equipment. In spite of manufacturing and handling difficulties, liquid cooling of electronic components seems to offer a solution for this problem. An important part of such solution is to design a compact cooling channel system that offers a uniform temperature distribution for the cooled part. Constructal theory is inspired by fluid flow in nature (river basins, human veins, and fluid transportation in plants) for fluid based cooling systems. On the other hand, new advancements in 3D printing technology has brought the possibility of building complicated systems that more closely mimics nature. This work investigates the application of constructal theory for the design of a compact double sided cooling pad for such applications to be built using advanced 3D printing technology. Fluid enters the two networks, on the top and bottom of the pad, via a single inlet inside a separating layer between them. The heated fluid is then collected at the periphery of the channel network. An exit port is then attached to a collection well for the exit flow. Numerical method is used to redesign flow passage dimensions inside the heat sink and optimize fluid outlet layout to ensure uniform heat removal and temperature distribution in the pad. A sample model of the actual device is built; using advanced 3D printing technology, for flow study. Flow pattern, temperature distribution, and the resulted pressure drop for the designed heat sink are presented for different flow rates. This work started as undergraduate research that became partially funded by UREP 15 - 063 - 2 - 021.

This study was made possible by the Best Environment Research Award granted to NPRP 09-546-2-206 at the QF Annual Research Forum in 2011. The disappearing Barchan dunes are the sole habitat to the eastern sandfish Scincus mitranus in Qatar. We hypothesized that each dune represents its own self-contained ecosystem, acting as an island habitat to the S. mitranus. For the first time in Qatar, a total of 108 sandfish were captured and tagged from 5 terrestrial and 3 coastal Barchan dunes in the south-eastern part of Qatar over a period of 10 months. DNA from the tails of 62 individuals was extracted for genetic analysis. The length of sandfish observed in the Barchans ranged from 6 to 29 cm, with a weight range of 2-47 g. Recapture data showed that there was no migration between dunes over 10 months, possibly indicating that each dune represents its own self-contained ecosystem. In contrast, based on the phylogenetic analyses performed using the genes 12S rRNA, cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and the composite (multi-locus) made of these 2 genes together, we conclude that there is no geographic clustering separation based on dune location. This indicates that dunes do not act as islands. Sandfish may move, procreate and cross-recruit among the dunes over a period greater than our survey time (>10 months) or when dunes collide and separate over longer time periods. We also found that Qatar sandfish form distinct and well separated clusters from the outgroup gene sequences of the Madagascar S. mitranus (COI gene) and the Saharan S. mitranus (12S rRNA gene). This is the first effort to characterize the ecology of the Scincus mitranus in Qatar through field surveys and metagenomic analyses and as such it serves as a baseline to future studies on this unique species.

Membrane technologies such as Ultrafiltration (UF), Nanofiltration (NF) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) have found widespread applications all over the world especially for water treatment and desalination. One of the keys to the development of UF/NF/RO membrane technology has been in terms of creating better filtration technologies to separate inorganic and organic substances from solution in a liquid. Great advances in UF/NF/RO generally occur due to the creation of better membranes through methods such as phase inversion combined with interfacial polymerization (IP) which lead to the formation of thin film composite (TFC) membranes. IP has become a very practical and useful technique when it comes to the generation of thin active film layer for NF and RO membranes. Recent advances showed that membranes including TFC membranes have been improved further by incorporating metal oxides nanoparticles as additives. All these methods are aimed at developing membranes with higher selectivity, rejection tendency and also overcoming fouling issues. Nanoparticles incorporated membranes have gained attention due to their ability to increase membrane permeability, mechanical properties, hydrophilicity, and selectivity in some cases. The nanoparticles which are commonly reported in NF/RO membrane fabrication are titanium dioxide (TiO2), zeolites, silica, silver, and zinc oxide (ZnO). This paper will discuss recent advances in this area as well as presenting some of the findings from our labs. Our recent works have shown that the sol-gel method can be utilised as a simple methods to produce metal oxides nanoparticles with sizes ranging from 5-20 nm. These nanoparticles have been incorporated in membranes and significant improvement has been shown in terms of permeate fluxes, rejection, contact angle and fouling propensity. Some of the nanoparticles have also been uniformly distributed within graphene-oxide sheets to reduce the tendency for agglomeration within the membranes. The impact of these advances in the future for water treatment and desalination applications will be discussed.

The world harvest of wild truffles dropped significantly from thousands of tons during the last century while the truffle international market continuously growing. Desert truffles have been known to be edible for human for 3000 years (Chang & Hay 1997). Belonging to the genus Terfezia and Tirmania they are native to Qatar and are adapted to the desert environment. These fungi are also mycorrhizal - they grow in a mutualistic association with the roots of the desert sunflower, Helianthemum spp. locally known as Ragroug. These truffles and associated cultural knowledge constitute a Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) system and have been managed for both food and medicine. Truffles have been growing naturally in Qatar for hundreds of years without a real systematic scientific research in order to increase the truffle crop in its natural habitats and exploring all the ecological parameters which controlling the growth of truffles in Qatari lands. The overall aim of this project is to conduct research that will support the development of a sustainable desert truffle agro-industry in Qatar, capable of restoring Qatar's degraded arid lands. We explored and studied the desert truffle natural habitat and the different environmental conditions to determine the factors that contribute to their existence and affect their growth. This should support the improvement of the truffle harvest quality as well as quantity. The use of the biotechnological techniques (e.g., plant tissue culture) to micropropagate the host plant (Helianthemum spp.) producing large numbers of it and overcoming the extinction problem of this plant caused by desertification and urbanization. Also, to produce large numbers of truffle- inoculated host plants to be used in establishing truffle orchards that is well-maintained and highly productive. Micropropagation of the host plant (Helianthemum) was achieved efficiently. 1000+ plants were produced through tissue culture. Also 1000+ plants were produced through conventional seed germination for comparison purposes. Although, in-vivo inoculation of the plants was successful, yet, we do not consider it cost effective. In-vitro inoculation is being tried currently.