Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference Proceedings Volume 2018 Issue 1

Increasing seawater temperatures are being measured worldwide, causing coral bleaching events during which the symbiosis between the coral host and its symbiotic zooxanthellae is disrupted, and a global decline in reef corals. In the Arabian Gulf where water temperatures are naturally extreme with summer maxima at 35°C and above and winter minima at 18°C and below, seawater temperature anomalies are repeate Read More

In Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, 56% of the market is captured by thermal based desalination (both MED and MSF), while in Qatar 91% is based on thermal desalination. Among the thermal desalination technologies, Multi Effect Desalination (MED) operates at lower specific power consumption and is considered more energy-efficient than the Multistage Flash (MSF) distillation. The lower energy consumption of MED Read More

Process Safety in the oil and gas industry is managed through a robust process safety management system that involves the assessment of the risks associated with a facility, throughout its lifecycle. Typical approaches for risk assessment of an accident scenario includes: the identification of hazards, the estimation of the frequency, the analysis of possible consequences, and the evaluation of the risk against a company's tole Read More

Methane hydrate is considered a potential energy source, with worldwide reserves on the order of 500–10,000 Gt of carbon. The production of Methane from hydratebearing sediments requires hydrate dissociation for releasing mobile methane gas in sediments prior to gas production operation. Existence of even a small fraction of fines can greatly decrease the permeability of sandy sediments, which will affect the gas Read More

The structure of natural hydrate-bearing sediments that exist offshore or onshore is a combination of coarse-grained sediments and fine-grained particles. During gas production from hydrate-bearing sediments, fine particles may migrate with the flowing fluids within pore space and cause clogging of the pore space of the porous media. Therefore, fine particles play a significant role during methane production from hydrate Read More

CuI and CuSCN as Hole Transport Materials for Perovskite Solar Cells Vinod E. Madhavan1*, Ahmer Ali Bozdar Baloch1, Afsal Manekkathodi1, Dhanasekaran Thirunvukkaarasu1, I. Zimmermann2, C. Roldán- Carmona2, G. Grancini2, M. Buffiere1, Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin2, A. Belaidi1 and Nouar Tabet1 1 Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, P. O. Box 5825, Read More

Ochratoxin A (OTA) has hepatotoxic, teratogenic, nephrotoxic and carcinogenic effect in mammals and it is classified as a group 2B carcinogen by the World Health Organization. The European Union has set the maximum OTA level at 2 mg/kg in wine, grape juice, and other grape products, and at 3 mg/kg for all products derived from cereal, including cereal products and cereal grains for human consumption. Some species of As Read More

Severe temperature, humidity and dust characteristic of the desert region are major challenges in power generation efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) systems in the gulf region. Soiling can lead to daily average energy loss of up to 4% [1], necessitating frequent cleaning which adds to the cost. One of the solutions to the problem is to use anti-soil coatings, where hydrophilic or hydrophobic coatings with spectral characteristics suitabl Read More

Dry reforming of methane (DRM) reaction utilizes CO2, a major greenhouse gas to convert natural gas (mainly composed of methane) to synthesis gas, an important feedstock which could further be converted into valuable chemicals and cleaner fuel. This reaction presents a clear incentive in terms of its positive impact on the global environment and thus it has gained increasing attention in the last couple of decades. The sup Read More