DOHA: ConocoPhillips Global Water Sustainability Center (GWSC) received a prestigious award in the Energy & Environment Category during closing ceremony of Qatar Foundation’s Annual Research Conference (ARC) 2016 at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) on March 23.
The Award was for GWSC’s research project on osmotic concentration to reduce the volume of produced and process water sent to injection wells at the North Field, Qatar. The Award was presented to Dr Samer Adham, Director of the GWSC and Principal Investigator of the Project by Nabil Salem, Chairman of ARC’16, and in the presence of Faisal Al Suwaidi, President of QF-R&D.
The application of osmotic concentration for produced and process water treatment using thermal brine as draw solution is considered novel and the results concluded that osmotic concentration can reduce produced and process water volumes from Qatari gas fields in a cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable manner. The project was funded by Qatar National Research Fund and led by GWSC in collaboration with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The research was evaluated along with more than 1000 other scientific abstracts from around the world, which is a testament to the quality and relevance of their work.
Moving forward, the GWSC research team is planning to evaluate the process in the field to validate the process stability and to assess alternative pretreatment options. This research programme will look to engage Qatari governmental organisations as well as to collaborate with academic institutions to support capacity building.
The research team included Joel Minier-Matar, Research Engineer at GWSC, who was also awarded first place in the Young Professional contest: “Today’s Young Professionals… Tomorrow’s Global Leaders”. This contest took place in conjunction with the 9th IPTC held in December 2015 in Doha. Minier-Matar received the prestigious accolade for his technical presentation on “Advances in Application of Forward Osmosis Technology for Volume Reduction of Produced/Process Water from Gas-Field Operations”. In order to be eligible for IPTC Young Professional contest, applicants must have less than 10 years industry experience or be aged 36 and below. Minier-Matar was one of seven participants from leading companies across Qatar to enter this competition.
“With these awards, our industry peers have recognised the leading edge research contributions of GWSC and affirmed the significant potential of our proposed process in reducing the injection volumes of gas processing by-product wastewater in Qatar, especially the North Field,” said Dr Samer Adham, Managing Director of GWSC.
At ConocoPhillips GWSC, Minier-Matar along with a team of engineers and scientists evaluate emerging technologies for treatment of produced water from the oil & gas operations and desalination of seawater. Specific technologies include reverse osmosis, membrane distillation, forward osmosis and membrane bioreactors. The GWSC also features a “Water Visitor Center” with interactive exhibits and displays that help visitors learn about methods to conserve water in and around their homes.The Peninsula
