Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Volume 2012 Issue 1

Heterogeneous catalysts are a critical part of industrial chemistry, primarily as a tool for more economically and ecologically efficient chemical processes. It is thus desirable to develop theoretical methods that can predict trends in catalytic activity and predict active catalyst for industrially important reactions. We have chosen to undertake a benchmarking study of various methods on the dissociation of molecular hydrogen Read More

In many lizards, chemical compounds from the femoral gland secretions are used in intraspecific communication, but most studies describing these chemicals are for European lizard species included in the Scleroglossa clade. Lizards within the Iguanian clade have been much less studied, probably because these lizards were considered to rely more on visual cues. However, many iguanian lizards have abundant femoral se Read More

Reactions involving the formation of new metal-ligand bonds are particularly important in the energy industry as most catalytic processes involves the use of organometallic complexes as the catalyst. Using computational methods it is now possible to predict pathways and energy barriers for various catalytic reactions. We can easily predict whether a reaction is feasible or not without having to perform experiments. However, Read More

Blister beetles of the genus Meloe Linnaeus, 1758, are widely distributed in temperate areas. However, their presence in arid environments is often overlooked. This is certainly true for Qatar. According to the Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera (Bologna in Löbl & Smetana, 2008) there is not a single record for the genus Meloe in Qatar, although the genus is well represented in other areas of the Arabian Peninsula. Meloe coelat Read More

The ability to predict performance of two-phase oil/water flow in pipes is essential for production operations from oil wells. Emulsions created between the flowing oil and water phases under turbulent conditions complicate the flow pattern and need to be further understood and characterized. Even when de-emulsifiers are used, turbulent emulsified flow cannot be avoided in certain sections of the pipe. The objec Read More

According to the World Resources Institute, in the building sector, commercial buildings contributed 9.9% of greenhouse gases (GHG) and 5.6% of GHG emissions are from residential buildings. In the Gulf, the building sector is the biggest electricity consumer. During the summer months, the local dry bulb temperature can go beyond 50°C therefore it is essential to depend on mechanical ventilation systems to reduce indoor t Read More

Supercritical fluids have captured global attention due to their extraordinary properties, such as high heat transfer coefficients, solubility and heat storage capacity. Due to the requirement for more effective power generation systems, supercritical Brayton cycles were proposed because of its high potential for the development of high thermal efficiency power cycles with no need for condensers. It is known that small fluid tem Read More

Background: In this work, hybrid Mg/Al-CNT nano-composites were fabricated utilizing a powder metallurgy route followed by a microwave-assisted rapid sintering technique and hot extrusion. Hybrid reinforcements (ball milled Al-CNT particles) comprising different contents of CNTs coated with fixed amounts of Al were used for strengthening. Objective: The mechanical response of hybrid Mg/Al-CNT nano-composites as a functio Read More

The only available natural water resources are the extremely limited rainwater and salty groundwater. The groundwater is extremely exhausted with non-replenished rates. Its exploitation not only should be stopped, but it should be recharged to serve as strategic national water storage. The potable water demand is mainly satisfied by desalting seawater (99%), using the multi stage flash desalting system. This method is ener Read More

Matrix acidizing is a common stimulation method for wells in carbonate reservoirs. Typically, 15% HCl in water, and some additives for specific purposes, is injected into carbonate rocks to create wormholes to improve hydrocarbon flow. These wormholes are formed by acid dissolution of the carbonate rock. The path by which the wormholes are formed is normally of lowest resistance. The path of rock dissolution is gover Read More

Total E&P Qatar (TEPQ) have made a significant effort to test new approaches to improve its current production metering systems for multiphase flow conditions. New technologies are tested through pilot applications on field. One of which is the use of advanced data validation and reconciliation (DVR) in oil and gas production activities. The goal is to reconcile in real-time the measured data and estimate all new info Read More

Introduction: Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been used for the determination of many radioisotopes including 99Tc, 226Ra, 235,236,238U, 232Th, and 239,240Pu. The major challenge in the determination of 90Sr is the separation of isobaric and polyatomic interferences. 90Sr is found in the environment at specific activities ranging from a few millibecquerels to several becquerels, dependin Read More

The environmental fate of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is prompted by their ubiquitous distribution and their potentially deleterious effect on human health by their carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. PAHs are the most important components retained in the soil environment after an oil spill. Biodegradation of PAHs by microorganisms is the subject of many reviews, but every habitat had its own personality. Ou Read More

Nanoparticles, when suspended in a base liquid have been reported to enhance heat transfer properties. This suggests a potential in industrial applications. However, the extent of reported enhancements were inconsistent. The underlying principal that leads to the improvements is not clearly understood, albeit the interactions between the particles and fluid which is likely to be the main contributor to the observed phen Read More

Natural gas is distributed in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) when transported across long distances. Delivery planning of LNG offers challenging multi-origin vehicle routing problems, with vessels of various capacities and fuel performance. There are also unique challenges due to the nature of LNG trading and shipping. We propose a framework design for this planning problem by considering the multiple objectives Read More

Alumina supported cobalt (Co) catalysts are the preferred choice for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) when using natural gas as raw material, which is the case of Qatar. It is thus of economical interest to find ways of increasing activity and/or selectivity of these catalysts. One way of modifying catalytic activity, consists of transformation of the active Co phase crystallites. A shift from the abundance of the face-centered cubic (f Read More

Background and Objectives Nanostructured devices are finding ever increasing use in industrial applications which has prompted a need to further understand their mechanical properties. Research has shown that as the size of structures such as reinforcing particles and fibres is reduced to nanometers, their particular mechanical properties vary. This variation of the material behaviour has mainly been attributed to surface/i Read More

Efficient CO2 scrubbing without a significant energy penalty remains an outstanding challenge for fossil fuel-burning industries where aqueous amine solutions are still widely used. Porous materials have long been evaluated for next-generation CO2 adsorbents. Porous polymers, robust and inexpensive, show promise as feasible materials for the capture of CO2 from warm exhaust fumes. We report the syntheses of porous c Read More

Qatargas and Total Research Center Qatar (TRC-Q) established a collaboration to study Predictive Emissions Monitoring (PEMS) algorithms for pilot application on a Qatargas gas turbine to predict NOx emissions. This pilot study was intended to demonstrate to local authorities that PEMS could be a reliable technique in both an alternative and complimentary capacity to Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS). PEMS is Read More

Even though oil and gas pipelines are the safest way to transport petroleum products, they still break generating hazardous consequences and irreparable environmental damages. Many models have been developed in the last decade to predict pipeline failure and conditions. However, most of these models were limited to one break type, such as corrosion, or relied mainly on expert opinion analysis. The objective of this Read More

Over the past several years organic Rankine cycle (ORC) processes have become a promising technology for power production from low grade heat sources, such as solar, biomass, geothermal and waste heat. A key challenge in design is the selection of an appropriate working fluid. ORC systems that use single components as working fluids have two major shortcomings. First, in the majority of applications, the temperatu Read More

Background: Sandwich panels with low density core constructions are a class of structural elements with superior structural performance compared to traditional solid panels. Sandwich panels, compared to solid panels of equal mass, generally have much higher bending stiffness and comparable stretching stiffness, thus undergoing smaller deformation under loading. The potential advantage of sandwich panels for mi Read More

Electrolyte solutions occur in many natural systems and are present in several industrial processes. Aqueous solutions of electrolytes are particularly important for designing water purification and treatment systems, among which water desalination processes. The design of processes with electrolyte solutions may require determining phase equilibrium conditions, and predicting volumetric and calorimetric properties. Read More

Background: Many failures of engineering structures and equipment are attributed to the failure of a single component. It is of great importance to identify those critical components and understand how components' criticality changes over time under dynamic environments. Objective: In this paper, we investigate the criticality analysis for components with multi-dimensional degradation under time-varying environmental cond Read More

It's been many years since the invention of the internal combustion engine. These engines are getting more challenging due to the concerns of ever increasingly harmful pollutions and limited energy sources. Environmental regulations have been more restrictive, and car manufacturers have invested more into reducing emitted pollutions and fuel consumption. It is well recognized that for spark ignition (SI) engines, the ai Read More

Realization of multilevel inverters for multiphase high power AC drives with open-end windings is presented in this paper, with a specific case of five-phase five-level inverter configurations. The five-level voltage profile is realized by feeding both ends of the stator windings using a three-level five-phase flying capacitor inverter on one side and a five-phase two-level inverter on the other side. The flying capacitors' voltages are Read More

The countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) have established an interconnected power system network. The primary goal was to share the spinning reserve among the GCC power grids. The project considered the commercial use of the network by aiming to reduce the cost of power generation in the six GCC states while encouraging power trade in order to meet growing needs. The GCC interconnection authority pro Read More

Cadmium is a naturally occurring metal and is usually present in the environment as a mineral combined with other elements, such as oxygen, chlorine, and sulfur, or as a minor component of most metal ores such as zinc, lead, and copper. Cadmium is also released in the environment from industrial activity; in particular, ore-smelting plants, industrial paints, and agricultural fertilizers. Over the last few decades, conside Read More

Qatar established it vision 2030 in October, 2008 (Ibrahim, 2009), adopting the concept of sustainable development. Thus the understanding of the impact of poor wastewater management and degrading sewage systems should be highlighted. Additionally, new technology should be developed to fully decrease the pollution while focusing concern on the economic benefits of the process. We have chosen to evaluate both poultry Read More

Companies around the world produce waste as a by-product of their products. The waste products are classified as solid wastes, medical wastes, wastewaters, and different kinds of wastes. Overall, the wastewaters have the highest impacts on the environment, since they are discharged into the seawater, and might also be discharged into the municipal wastewaters. In addition, the composition of the wastewater varies from Read More

Nanotechnology is foreseen to change our life by bringing new horizons to current industrial applications. It could be used, for example, to improve the performances of heat exchangers--which are widely used in industrial applications--by augmenting heat transfer characteristics of the working fluids. Nanofluids, which are engineered colloidal suspensions of nano-sized particles (less than 100nm) dispersed in a base fluid, have s Read More

Qatar has experienced an unprecedented development in recent years as a result of its large oil and gas industry. It has the third confirmed reserve of natural gas in the world. With 55.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person, Qatar has the highest carbon footprint globally, about 10 times the global average. Against this background, there have been attempts to investigate ways to reduce carbon emissions since CO2 was d Read More

Carbon capture and sequestration (or carbon capture and storage, CCS) is considered to be a critical strategy worldwide--and in Qatar as well--to limit carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions; the main greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. This work focuses on designing a simple device for CO2 capture that can be used in mobile systems like vehicles and ships. The device mainly consists of a compact cylinder filled with Read More

Most countries in the world are faced with the dilemma of missing one or more crucial ingredients that prevent them from engaging in environmental research or implementing environmentally friendly policies and practices. Some countries that have the resources to affect change suffer from a lack of political will, whereas others that may have the political will lack the human or technological resources or institution Read More