FEATURED NEWS
PTDF Chair Close-Out Ceremony By Ethel Timi-Johnson
- Details
- Published: 27 March 2018
Occupant of the Professorial Chair of Gas Engineering sponsored by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Professor Dulu Appah, gave a detailed account of his activities for the period spanning up to December 2016.
Speaking at the Close-Out Ceremony which held on Thursday, November 16, 2017 at the Ebitimi Banigo Auditorium, Professor Appah disclosed that he completed the second half of the Chair tenure which was initially occupied by the late Professor Elijah Iyagba of the Department of Chemical Engineering.
“The results of some projects we embarked upon included preventing hydrate formation and safety for prolific deep-water project development and higher prediction of hydrates than the usual hydrate envelope and we also looked at natural fibre composite,” he disclosed, adding that hydrate and corrosion of carbon steel were major pipeline challenges that required urgent attention.
“Ongoing two-year research projects undertaken by the Chair included Hydrate-based Natural Gas Transportation and Gas–to-Power Project (Natural Gas Utility Pipeline), with the intended benefits of power supply to the University, gas utilisation model for reliable power, gas compression at substations versus trucking compressed natural gas and conservation of scarce resources,” Professor Appah told the gathering.
He further disclosed that the Chair also partnered national and international universities, including industry players, which he said resulted in the formation of an Endowment Management Committee, laboratory visits and donations to the Chair from various sources.
Listing the contributions of the Chair to include research mentorship and manpower development, Professor Appah, who is Director of the Institute of Petroleum Studies, said that as part of quality control measures, the Chair has been visited by the PTDF Monitoring and Evaluation Unit for Budget Performance Appraisal, Strategic Planning and Research Division for positive research outcomes.
“So far, the Chair has achieved its main mandate of boosting human capacity building and development of skilled manpower resources for industry recruitment, advancing knowledge and adding economic values to human life,” Professor Appah told the gathering.
In their separate remarks, representative of the Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Hakeem Fawehinmi and Head of Research and Documentation, Mannir Abubakar, who represented the Executive Secretary of PTDF, congratulated the Chair Occupant for rendering a detailed account of the activities of the Chair under his watch
