QU-GPC and ConocoPhillips complete Stage II wastewater reduction project

The project named ‘Osmotic concentration for reducing injected wastewater volumes in Qatar’ was launched in 2018 and was funded by the Qatar National Research Fund

Wastewater management remains a global challenge to the oil and gas (O&G) industry. In Qatar, the regulations imposed by Qatar Petroleum require a 50% reduction in liquid discharge from all oil and gas processing facilities.

Therefore, this project aimed to address this challenge by implementing the low-energy technology “Osmotic Concentration (OC)” based on the natural osmosis phenomenon principles for volume reduction of this wastewater.

ConocoPhillips Global Water Sustainability Center (GWSC) research team demonstrated the proof of concept for the OC process at the bench-scale level in 2016. The bench-scale system proved the technical feasibility for a 50% volume reduction of wastewater. Therefore, the promising outcomes encouraged scaling up the project to a higher level. Consequently, the investigation of OC technology at the pilot-scale level is proposed as a joint project between Gas Processing Center (GPC) at Qatar University and ConocoPhillips GWSC.

The project named ‘Osmotic concentration for reducing injected wastewater volumes in Qatar’ was launched in 2018 and funded by the Qatar National Research Fund. It demonstrated the technology’s technical viability, resulting in a 75% reduction of the disposal volume with minimal environmental impact and a much lower cost than the state of the art technology currently being implemented in the field.

The pilot-scale of the project was completed on October 1, 2020, with a virtual meeting organised by the GPC and attended by various managerial and technical dignitaries, including Sheikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Thani, Chief Engineering & Projects Officer, Qatargas; Dr. Khalid Naji, Dean, College of Engineering; Qatar University, Prof Muftah El-Naas, GPC Director; Todd Creeger President of ConocoPhillips, Qatar; and other dignitaries from Qatar University, Qatargas, and ConocoPhillips.

The research team led by Dr. Mustafa Nasser from Qatar University and Dr. SamerAdham from ConocoPhillips GWSC presented the project’s primary outcomes and spoke highly of the project team and the successful demonstration of an emerging technology that has direct application in Qatar. The head of the Qatargas delegation, Sheikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Thani, asserted that Qatargas is delighted to be part of this project and look forward to more future collaborations with Qatar University.

Dean, College of Engineering, Qatar University,(QU-CENG), Dr. Khaled Kamal Naji, said, “CENG supports all forms of collaboration with Qatargas in academia research and community service levels. This collaboration will be added to the series of cooperation initiatives that the college has experienced with Qatargas before. Several PhD students from Qatargas are currently pursuing their graduate studies at CENG.”

GPC Director Prof Muftah El Naas highlighted the successful collaboration between the Center at Qatar University and Qatargas and other industrial partners in the State of Qatar.

Todd Creeger, President of ConocoPhillips Qatar, said, “ConocoPhillips is a proud partner in Qatargas, and we are pleased to have GWSC collaborate with GPC in this important project in support of capacity building in Qatar.”

Read more at The Peninsula.