New initiative to solve the problem of treatment of water contaminated with crude oil: Polish-Omani scientific cooperation

New initiative to solve the problem of treatment of water contaminated with crude oil: Polish-Omani scientific cooperation

The oil industry is one of the world's biggest industries and is a locomotive driving the Omani national economy. The crude oil extraction is always coupled with environmental challenges, and in addition, it consumes a large amount of water which later needs to be treated: extracting 1 barrel of crude oil produces around 9 barrels of contaminated water. Furthermore, potential crude oil and wastewater spills due to accidents cause soil, river, and underground water contamination, harming local society and human activities. Eliminating these environmental and social consequences requires significant financial expenditures burdening the Omani national economy.

The Research and Innovation Centre , RIC Pro-Akademia, from Republic of Poland and the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech) have established a new initiative to solve the problem of water contaminated with crude oil in Oman: the WASTE4H2 project. Within this project, produced water will be processed using an innovative process that can significantly reduce wastewater contamination. An additional advantage of the proposed technology is that it simultaneously produces hydrogen. The process will be powered with green energy, produced by the innovative PVT system, resistant to overheating and dusty sand from the desert.

“Advanced oxidation process has already shown promising results in treating industrial,