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QU President Prof Sheikha Abdulla Al Misnad (second right) with other officials at the event.
Doha: Qatar University’s College of Engineering, ConocoPhillips, Kahramaa and Qatar Electricity and Water Company yesterday celebrated the successful completion of the second phase of a joint research project designed to demonstrate a novel technology for seawater desalination.
QU President Prof Sheikha Abdulla Al Misnad and representatives from each organisation attended the event at Qatar University.
The Membrane Distillation Field Demonstration project started in October 2011 and was hosted in the Chemical Engineering Department. It has made important progress towards proving that quality freshwater can be produced from brines discharged from thermal desalination plants using low grade waste heat from industry and/or renewable sources.
Funded by ConocoPhillips through its Global Water Sustainability Center (GWSC) in Doha, the project focuses on evaluating membrane distillation (MD), a novel desalination technology that evaporates water at low temperature and pressure and passes it through a membrane before condensing it to produce distilled water. The technology uses less energy, has a lower environmental impact and is less costly than conventional methods for desalinating high salinity brines.
Phase 1 of the collaborative efforts included pilot tests conducted at QU to prove the technical feasibility of the MD process. In collaboration with QEWC, Phase 2 saw the units operating at the Ras Abu Fontas power and desalination plant to evaluate the process under industrial conditions. A waste heat audit was conducted to identify opportunities whereby the energy needed by MD could be obtained from sources within two Qatari desalination facilities.
The joint project was managed by CENG faculty Prof Farid Benyahia and GWSC Managing Director Dr Samer Adham to develop expertise in this emerging technology, resulting in two Masters’ theses at Qatar University and several conference and journal papers, which have been published or are under review for publication.
QU’s team included research assistants Yehia Manawi and Ahmad Fard, who successfully completed the Master Program in Environmental Engineering in September 2013 with thesis on membrane distillation desalination. A Qatari Master’s student Mashael Al Obaidli has also joined the team. Her project will investigate the long-term stability of membranes and contribute significantly to the third and final phase of the project, which will be carried out at QU until August 2014. This phase involves using laboratory data to improve the modelling of the MD desalination process. The Peninsula
