Oscarline Onwuemenyi
30 July 2015, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The management of Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, has declared its readiness to establish a National Coordination Centre for Research and Development on Biofuels and other alternative energy sources to be domiciled at the National Institute of Petroleum Policy and Strategy, NIPPS, in Kaduna.
The Fund said the decision was part of efforts to intensify the production of biofuel and other alternative energy sources on a commercial scale.
The Executive Secretary of PTDF, Mr. Femi Ajayi, who stated this yesterday at the opening of a two-day seminar of the 2012/2013 Annual Oil and Gas Research Grant competition in Abuja, said the move was in response to the global drive for environmental- friendly source of energy.
He used the occasion to also reaffirm the Fund’s commitment on the sponsorship of more research efforts in the production of biofuels and biogas from non-edible fruits adding that results of research work in the above mentioned area has been worthwhile.
Ajayi in his address noted with delight that the results on the production of Fuel Briquettes and Biogas from Water Hyacinth Cow-Dung Mixture and that of Software Development for Wellbore Stability Management as well as research outcomes of Control Fine Migrations in Reservoir Using Nano- Particles have earned intellectual property rights and patent certificates.
He, however, added that the fund has put in place actions to file for intellectual property rights and patency at the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, commending the researchers for displaying what it termed high sense of duty and professionalism in the midst of various challenges experienced in the course of the projects.
The five research works as well as their researchers according to PTDF include Hydrocarbon Source Rock Evaluation in the Cretaceous to Neogene Basins of Southern Nigeria and Implications for the Niger Delta Petroleum Systems by Prof. Samuel Akande of the University of Ilorin.
Others are Development of Novel Technology for Diagnosing and Remediating Problems Associated with Oil Field, Reservoir Souring and Corrosion in the Petroleum Industry by Dr. Chuma Okoro located at the Federal University of Nigeria, Ebonyi, and Development of Biofuel Technology from Locally Source Cellulosic Materials by Prof. Ayoade Kuye at the University of Port Harcourt.