Commencement of a New JCCP Project with UAE — Design and Evaluation of a Pilot Plant for the Treatment of Refinery Wastewater —

  UAE is experiencing remarkable economic growth today, mainly in its oil and gas industries. However, this growth is raising concerns about environmental problems. The Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (TAKREER), a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC),
has also been seeking to improve environmental load reduction technologies at the Ruwais Refinery and to upgrade its refinery wastewater treatment system.
  In light of this situation, JCCP and United Arab Emirates University (UAE University) have carried out the Project on Development, Design and Evaluation of Advanced Refinery Wastewater Treatment Process in UAE (FY2005 - 2009) to examine efficient refinery wastewater treatment methods, and have succeeded in developing a new treatment system at the laboratory level.The new system treats refinery wastewater according to a three-step process, which includes electrocoagulation (for sulphate removal and COD reduction), bioreaction (for phenol removal), and adsorption (for COD removal).Compared to the conventional system, it can efficiently treat wastewater at a higher level. Before the new wastewater treatment system could be applied to an operating refinery, practical performance evaluation tests needed to be performed using actual wastewater discharged from a refinery. Therefore, with the objective of performing the necessary evaluation tests, JCCP will be launching a new project, the Joint Study on Design and Evaluation of a Pilot Plant for the Treatment of Refinery Wastewater in UAE, this fiscal year over a period of three years.
  The project will be held jointly with UAE University and TAKREER as JCCP’s counterparts on the UAE side. UAE University will be responsible for evaluating the performance and optimizing the pilot wastewater treatment unit, and TAKREER will install the unit in the Ruwais Refinery and cooperate in its operation.

Signing the Moa

  After a series of discussions on the joint implementation of the project, JCCP, UAE University, and TAKREER reached a final agreement and held an MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) signing ceremony on May 17, 2010.
  On the UAE side, Mr. Jasem Ali Al-Sayegh, General Manager of TAKREER, and Dr. Abdulla Saad Al-Khanbashi, Vice Chancellor of UAE University; and on the Japanese side, Mr. Morihiro Yoshida, Managing Director of JCCP, signed the MOA and exchangedcommemorative gifts, with hopes for the success of the new project.

  H.E. Dr. Maitha Salem Al Shamsi, Minister of State and JCCP’s counterpart for technical cooperation projects in UAE, also attended the ceremony and delivered words of gratitude for the new JCCP project and for JCCP’s technical cooperation with UAE. On the Japanese side, Mr. Setsuo Omori, Minister at the Japanese Embassy in UAE, expressed his approval of the new JCCP project and articulated his hopes that it will contribute to strengthening ties between UAE and Japan. Other members on the Japanese side included Mr.Masaki Ikematsu, Executive Director, from Nippon Oil Research Institute Co., Ltd., a participating member in the JCCP technical cooperation project.

  All parties concerned look forward to the successful completion of the project, and hope that the transfer of Japanese environmental countermeasure technologies and environmental improvement technologies will enhance the friendly relationship between UAE and Japan.

Principal members of the signing ceremony,(From the left) H.E. Dr. Maitha Salem Al Shamsi, Minister of State;Dr. Abdulla Saad Al-Khanbashi, Vice Chancellor of UAE University;Mr. Jasem Ali Al-Sayegh, General Manager of TAKREER;Mr. Morihiro Yoshida, Managing Director of JCCP;Mr. Setsuo Omori, Minister at the Japanese Embassy in UAE

                                                                                                                                                 <by Nobuyuki Suyama, Technical Cooperation Dept.>