Water & Energy Security Workshop

Water & Environmental Research Activities

at TAMUQ

Ahmed Abdel-WahabChemical Engineering ProgramTexas A&M University at Qatar

February 16, 2015

Qatar Sustainable Water & Energy

Utilization Initiative (QWE)

• Formally launched on February 1,

2010

• Center of Excellence for open and

cooperative research, and capacity

building.

• Strategic Advisory Board to steer

the QWE

• Stakeholder engagement through

QWE consortium

• Collaboration with local, regional,

and international researchers.

Introduction

• More than $15M research projects

• Address problems related to the

needs of Qatari stakeholders

• Provide knowledge and technology

transfer to stakeholders

• More than 30 qualified research

staff

• State-of-the-art analytical

equipment

Current Research Activities

• Advanced water and wastewater treatment processes

– Advanced reduction processes

– Advanced oxidation processes

– Electrochemical and photo-electrochemical treatment processes

• Environmental impact assessment and management

– Environmental impact of cooling water and wastewater discharges

– Regulatory revisions and recommendations of new standards

– Design of discharge/outfall systems

• Desalination Process Innovation

– Zero liquid discharge systems (ZLD)

– Hybrid desalination systems

– Desalination pretreatment

• Utilizing solar energy for carbon dioxide reduction and water treatment

– Photo-electrochemical processes for CO2 conversion to useful fuels

– Photo-electrochemical water and wastewater treatment processes

Current Research Activities (cont.)

• Industrial Energy Systems

- Energy integration in industrial cities

- Renewable energy / systems integration

- CO2 integration

• Heat to Power Technologies

- Materials and design innovation for Organic Rankine Cycles

• Integrated water resources management

- Macroscopic water systems design and optimization

• Water-Energy Nexus and Eco-Industrial Parks

- Co- and Trigeneration

- Industrial ecologies around wastes and by-products

Examples of R&D Projects

Desalination pretreatment/Brine Management/ZLD systems

Pretreatment

Influent

Treatment before RO 2

RO 1

RO 2

Product water

Evaporationsystem

brine

concentrated brineSolids

0 10 20 30 40

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0Raw produced water microfiltration-nanofiltration

Electroflotation-Microfiltration-nanofiltration (Al3+

=50mg/L)

No

rma

lize

d f

lux

(J/J

0)

Volume filtered per unit membrane area (L/m2)

Electroflotation-microfiltration pretreatment improved

flux during produced water nanofiltration.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 1 2 3 4

Molar ratio of lime dose to initial [SO4]

Su

lfate

rem

oval eff

icie

ncy (

%)

Initial [SO4] = 10 mM

Initial [SO4] = 50 mM

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 5 10Molar Ratio of lime dose to initial [Si]

Silic

a r

em

oval eff

icie

ncy (

%)

initial [Si] = 1.5 mM

initial [Si] = 3.0 mM

Effect of lime dose on silica removal (aluminum dose = 0.5 lime dose)

0 5 10 150

2

4

6

DOC

removal

Electrochemical alunimum dosage (mg/L)

DO

C c

on

cen

tratio

n (

mg/L

)

0

20

40

60

DO

C r

em

ova

l (%

)

199 198 197 196 195 194

196.

64 e

V

198.

31 e

V

B 1s

Inte

nsity

(cp

s)

Binding energy (eV)

195.

21 e

V

XPS analysis of produced water electrofloated flocs showing

boron sorption onto the Al(OH)3 coagulant precipitates.

Advanced Reduction Processes

0 10 20 30 40 50

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Irradiation Time (min)

VC

co

nc. (m

g/L

)

VC+UV+dithionite at pH3 Model VC+UV+dithionite at pH3VC+UV+dithionite at pH7 Model VC+UV+dithionite at pH7VC+UV+dithionite at pH10 Model VC+UV+dithionite at pH10

Time (min)

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160No

rma

lize

d C

on

cen

tra

tion

(C

/C0

)

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2only bromate

sulfite 1.56 mg L-1

sulfite 3.1 mg L-1

sulfite 7.8 mg L-1

sulfite 15.6 mg L-1

sulfite 31.3 mg L-1

Reducing agent type

SulfiteDithionite

Sulfide

Ferrous iron

Ferrous iron + Sulfite

Chlo

rate

Rem

oval P

erc

enta

ge (

%)

0

20

40

60

80

100

UV-254 nm

UV-365 nm

UV-312 nm

Reducing Agent

Activating method

Reductant Radical

Solar-Driven Treatment Processes

Heavy Metals Removals using Reactive Adsorbents Nanoparticles

Nano-Particulate Iron Sulfides

Mackinawite (FeS) Pyrite (FeS2)

Target compounds

(As (III, V), Hg(II), Se(IV, VI))

Stabilization

As(III)

As(V)

Selenate (SeO42-)

Selenite(SeO32-)

Desalination System based on Microbe-Nanostructure

Hybrids

Photo-electrochemical Conversion of CO2 to Useful Fuels

b

Time(h)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

HC

OO

H (

um

ol)

0

50

100

150

200

CuO-CuFeO2 (ED 2h)

CuO-CuFeO2 (ED 2h)

Treatment and Recovery of Produced Water

0 10 20 30 40

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0Raw produced water microfiltration-nanofiltration

Electroflotation-Microfiltration-nanofiltration (Al3+

=50mg/L)

No

rma

lize

d f

lux

(J/J

0)

Volume filtered per unit membrane area (L/m2)

Electroflotation-microfiltration pretreatment

improved flux during produced water

nanofiltration.

ATR-FTIR spectra of raw produced water, flocs generated during

produced water electrocoagulation, and pure Al(OH)3 precipitates

generated during aluminum electrolysis of nanopure water.

199 198 197 196 195 194

196.

64 e

V

198.

31 e

V

B 1s

Inte

nsity

(cps

)

Binding energy (eV)

195.

21 e

V

XPS analysis of produced water electrofloated flocs showing boron sorption onto the

Al(OH)3 coagulant precipitates.

Kinetic Hydrate Inhibitor (KHI) Removal

from Produced Water

Gas Processing Companies use Kinetic Hydrate

Inhibitor (KHI) during the winter season to

prevent hydrate formation in the gas transfer

lines from offshore platforms to onshore facilities.

KHI remains in the produced wastewater which is

injected in wastewater disposal wells.

Laboratory tests have shown that KHI forms a

viscous polymer gel in the injection zone and

causes formation damage.

Therefore, KHI should be removed from

wastewater before the wastewater is injected in

the disposal wells.

This project focuses on KHI removal from

wastewater.

A Holistic Approach for Sustainable Use of Industrial Seawater Cooling (Sponsor: QNRF)

•Develop a scientific framework for environmental impact assessment of cooling water discharge into seawater

•Develop quantitative techniques for predicting the reaction mechanisms and kinetics of biocides and their reaction products in seawater

•Develop computational tools to predict the fate and transport of biocides and their reaction products

• Aid in developing sound regulatory policies

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0 50 100 150 200

Co

nc

en

tra

tio

n (μ

Mo

l)

Reaction Time (hrs)

Chloroform BOCM BBCM Bromoform

Study of Residual Chlorine and Chlorinated Byproducts at MIC Industrial Area (MoE, QAFCO, QAPCO, QP)

Field Sampling and

Analysis

Lab Experiments

Experimental

Hyd

rod

yn

am

ic

Mo

deli

ng

Modeling

Toxicity Analysis

Impact

Recommendations for

Residual Chlorine

Standards

Kin

eti

c M

od

eli

ng

Reactive Transport

Modeling

Sponsors

THANK YOU