Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Volume 2011 Issue 1

Abstract Light weight structural materials are in high demand these days due to the limited oil and gas reserves and global inclination to reduce the green house gas (CO2) emission. Magnesium based materials are the lightest engineering materials in the earth. Magnesium alloys that contain aluminium and zinc are known as AZ alloys. These alloys are reasonably priced, easily available, and used in many engineering applicati Read More

Abstract Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination processes are widely used. The optimal design of such systems resembles a network synthesis problem and has been addressed using superstructure optimization approaches. However, to date these approaches suffer from a limited ability to identify structurally distinct design alternatives, despite requiring significant computational times to determine globally optimal Read More

Abstract Electrocoagulation is a promising alternative to the conventional chemical coagulation in water treatment systems. In electrocoagulation, coagulants are generated in situ by anodic dissolution of sacrificial electrodes, usually aluminum or iron electrodes. Anodic dissolution of the sacrificial anodes leads to the formation of hydrolysis products (hydroxo-metal species) that involve the destabilization of suspended, e Read More

Abstract Qatargas and TOTAL Research Center-Qatar (TRC-Q) have established a joint project to study Predictive Emissions Monitoring Systems (PEMS). PEMS are an emerging software solution designed to partially or fully replace online analyzers such as Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) by deriving emissions concentrations from process data. The pilot project that is being undertaken based at Qatargas is Read More

Abstract The date palm is one of the oldest cultivated trees and is critical to the development of arid land. The date palm is a dioecious monocot with separate male and female trees, however only the female trees produce the fruit that is sought after in farming. This presents a challenge in crop development, as it is impossible to distinguish trees until they flower approximately 5–8 years after planting. We have developed tw Read More

Abstract The College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) is a satellite campus of a Canadian comprehensive technical college based in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. CNA-Q is in its tenth year with over 2000 students and 500 faculty members. In 2008, we began Phase I of our research programme. The main objective was to create a student-driven interdisciplinary learning environment. CNA-Q received a g Read More

Abstract Background: The use of Arabian killifish embryos is proposed as an alternative to using juvenile or adult fish for environmental risk studies. Fish embryo toxicity (FET) methods can provide many benefits; they are considered animal alternatives, they require relatively small sample size and reduced time to determine toxicity endpoints. Objective: The establishment of a laboratory fish culture to provide embryos and iden Read More

Abstract The oil and gas industries are one of the major producers of wastewater streams. Most of this water is disposed either through subsurface reinjection or surface discharge after some treatment. There is a growing interest in the reuse of produced water from oil and gas fields due to limited availability of freshwater resources. However, the poor quality of the produced water is a big challenge for its reuse. The charact Read More

Abstract Antimicrobial agents are very useful and have been the subject of intense research. Amongst these compounds, bacteriocins are defined as peptide antibiotics which do not harm the producer strain but have the ability to kill closely related bacteria. Bacillus thuringiensis is a friendly bacterium best known for the production of bioinsecticides, but is also considered as a source of bacteriocins active against the closely r Read More