Annual Report 2010 - Comsats

RSS, from September 27 - 29, 2010.
ESCWA’S New Regional Technology Centre to
be Located at RSS: The new regional
Technology Centre of the United Nations’
Economic and Social Commission for Western
Asia (ESCWA) would be based at the Royal
Scientific Society (RSS), Jordan.An agreement to
th
this effect was signed on 26 December 2010.
Clean Technology Initiatives: Funding of three
major clean technology initiatives by USAID
Jordan was announced in 2010 during a
ceremony at RSS in Amman. Under the
announced plan, USAID will provide El Hassan
Science City & RSS with full funding for the
projects that will form the basis for an international
research and development centre, an Incubator,
and a Capital Network. This new cluster will
provide researchers, investors and entrepreneurs
with a forum to help bring clean technology
innovations to market.
Research Activities
A couple of research activities of RSS undertaken
during 2010 are as follows:
Using the Electrochemical Reaction
Engineering, Biotechnology and Solar Cells
Technology to Produce Hydrogen and
Desalinate Sea Water: This multiphase and
multidisciplinary project is based on utilizing the electrochemical techniques by
adding D.C. current produced from solar cells to the electrolyzer, in order to
electrolyze sea-water to produce hydrogen gas as the first path of production. The
second path of production is based on using biotechnology, which involves the use of
green algae to generate Hydrogen gas from sunlight and sea-water. An electrolyzer
connected to a flow system and solar panels, in addition to the biological system, were
fabricated to fulfill the research requirements. Three genera of green algae have been
identified in the samples obtained from Gulf of Aqaba. The predominant observed
genera belong to: Chaetomorpha, Oscillatoria and Anabaena. The three types of
identified genera are known for their capability to produce hydrogen. The research
group is now working on the second phase of the project (Purification of hydrogen gas
using metallic membranes and utilization of hydrogen gas using PEM fuel cells to
produce energy and water).
Annual Report
2010
Designing and Manufacturing of a Technological Product-line for Washing,
Drying and Separating Silica Sand: The research project was implemented with the
support of the Higher Council for Science and Technology (HCST)-Jordan. It aims to
reduce energy-consumption of mineral processing technologies and improve
productivity and quality by defining an innovative engineering design procedure of a
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