Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Volume 2012 Issue 1

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 shown potential as industrial cooling fluids due to their reported enhanced heat transfer characteristics. However, rheological characteristics of nanofluids at extreme working conditions that occur in industrial applications are not well studied. This work for the first time presents the rheological characteristics of cooling oil based nanofluids at high temperatures and pressures. In this work, nanofluids are prepared by dispersing SiO2 nanoparticles (~20nm) in a highly refined paraffinic mineral oil (Therm Z-32, QALCO) that has wide applications in industrial heat exchangers, especially in NGL plants operated by Qatar Petroleum. Three particle concentrations of 1%, 5% and 10% by weight are considered for the investigation. The high pressure and high temperature viscosity values are measured using a HPHT viscometer (METEK CHANDLER ENGG.). In the experimentation, viscosity values of the nanofluids are measured at temperatures ranging from ambient to 160oC, with pressures varying from atmospheric to 100 atmospheres. Initial observations have shown that variation in particle loading and temperature affects the viscosity of nanofluids, whereas increases in pressure had a negligible effect on nanofluids viscosity.

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 deemed to be one of the major green house gases. Power generation is by far the biggest contributor to anthropogenic (man-made) carbon emissions. The carbon emission mitigation methods currently considered include both “end of pipe” and “at source” solutions. The techniques currently identified to capture carbon emissions from point sources from industrial activities include post combustion capture, precombustion capture and oxyfuel based capture. These techniques are currently at various stages of development. In this work, an important petrochemical process, namely the Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) process has been selected for carbon footprinting. The primary fossil fuel equivalents, which in turn will be turned into CO2 emissions using combustion processes, were identified. Industrial standard simulation software HYSYS was used to carry out the calculations on the heat duties of the entire plant. Energy intensive sections in the VCM process were identified and their associated CO2 footprint calculated. The total CO2 emissions from VCM plant with a hypothetical capacity of 300,000MT/yr were estimated to be around 96,000 MT/yr, which means that for each 1 ton VCM produced, 0.32 ton of CO2 is emitted. In addition to the process related carbon emissions, non process CO2 emissions were estimated. This emission emanates from energy used to power lighting, electronic equipment, catering, in-house transportation etc. Good practice for energy saving and hence CO2 emission reduction was put forward.

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 an absorbent solution for CO2 emissions. A distributor with a special design is used to increase the area of contact between CO2 gas and the solution in order to increase the absorbent efficiency. Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the test rig. Different materials that have high absorption characteristics of CO2, such as NaOH and MgOH, have been used to evaluate the device performance. At the first stage of this work, the CO2 emission has been simulated by injecting a mixture of CO2 and N2 into the device to be used as a proof of concept. A number of parameters, including absorbent material concentration and a mixture (CO2/N2) flow rate, are tested in order to reach the maximum absorption efficiency. CO2 percentage is measured at the entrance and exit of the device to calculate the absorbent ratio with the time. The second stage of this work will include testing the device within an actual internal combustion engine in order to evaluate the device under actual conditions.

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 institutional capacity to affect a change. At present, Qatar is in a unique position for enhancing its environmental performance and sustainability. Endowed by a small population and the world's third largest natural gas reserves, economic resources pose little restraints, and could be converted into building a cleaner future. Education City, Qatar's leading vehicle for building a knowledge economy, incorporates some of the most ambitious environmental sustainability projects and initiatives in Qatar, including sustainable buildings seeking LEED-certification, environmental awareness campaigns, and related practical applications in the areas of solar energy, among others. Apart from this unique concentration of institutions, projects and practices relating to environmental sustainability, the City's cultural diversity makes it a true melting pot of values, perspectives and lifestyles relating to the environment. Education City could provide lessons or even serve as an example of an environmentally sustainable community for the broader society, or will it simply remain a self-proclaimed green community with little impact outside its boundaries? In other words, is Education City a green beacon or is it a green island? This study, funded by the UREP channel of the QNRF, aims to explore environmental sustainability in Education City (EC) and answer the main research question by answering three interlinked, complementary sets of questions, namely: 1) What are the intersections of the vision and EC? 2) How is EC advancing (in) environmental sustainability? 3) Are the university students in EC environmentally sustainable? How about university students in Qatar in general? In addition to providing answers to these questions through qualitative analysis and a survey administered among different universities in the autumn of 2012, this study will seek to identify policy advice and practical applications for environmental sustainability education in Education City and throughout other universities in Qatar.