Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates—25 October 2020:  Abu Dhabi University’s (ADU) Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the College of Engineering (CoE), Dr. Omar Chaalal, has been granted US patent under 10711178, for inventing a novel green process that uses two types of plant extracts that increase the total oil recovery to 96% of initial oil in place (IOIP) at reservoir temperature during the tertiary recovery mode. While water flood recovered around 50% of the IOIP, 0.5% of the natural plant extract recovered by 77% in the secondary recovery mode. The additives were extracted from two plants available in the United Arab Emirates, these natural extracts proved to be very effective in formations containing water with a salinity range of 70,000 to 180,000 ppm with temperature going up to 100o C.

 

The invention ‘Secondary and tertiary green water flooding of fractured and heterogeneous oil reservoirs at high salinity and high temperature’ is a green product that is environmentally friendly, non-toxic, easy and safe to handle. 

 

Commenting on this achievement, Dr. Chaalal said: “It is a great honor to be granted this US patent. This invention is a breakthrough in the field of enhanced oil recovery and will contribute to protecting the UAE environment. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to ADU for the support given to me to complete this project, using applied research, purpose-built academic facilities and state-of-the-art laboratories available at the University.” 

 

Dr. Hamdi Sheibani, Dean of the College of Engineering at ADU commented: “We are very proud of Dr. Omar’s accomplishment. This reflects the culture of innovation that ADU is keen to foster, and we truly believe that this achievement will lead to a paradigm shift in the oil industry and will contribute positively to the UAE environment. In the CoE, we always strive to be nationwide leaders in developing new engineering and technical ideas as well as research and innovation development, as we continue to build a robust and resourceful community of students, faculty, alumni, as well as professional and academic partners.” 

Dr. Omar Chaalal was also honored with the prestigious IAAM Scientist Award by the International Association of Advanced Materials, one of the leading non-profit international scientific organization to promote Advanced Materials Science, Engineering and Technology, and delivered a lecture on “Green process: Removal of heavy metals from contaminated soil” in the Advanced Materials Lecture Series 2020.

 

Dr. Omar Chaalal is an internationally renowned expert in separation technologies. He is the inventor of the EnPro Process (developed as part of his tenure at a Norwegian Company) that deals with the sequestration of carbon dioxide and global warming reduction. He has undertaken several successful research projects related to CO2 cleaning in Natural Gas and subsequently two patent applications have been filed for the use of this technology. He has authored 78 refereed publications, 2 European patents, and 200 presentations.

 

This year, Dr. Chaalal is working as consultant for Triton Chemicals International, a company based in Norway that produces Tritonite, the world’s most advanced concrete additive based on nano technology, to develop a new material that uses dune sand available in abundance and at a lower cost, that will be used in construction.