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Marking the first of its kind in the education sector, Sohar University hosted the Davison Circulating Riser Arrival Ceremony for the Grace Laboratory Expansion last week at the university premises.
Co-organised by GRACE and OQ , the expansion project was inaugurated to establish a modern research and development laboratory, with a total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of about $ 9.5 million ensuring both quality and job opportuniteies for Omani youth while adding In-Country Value (ICV).
The Grace Lab at the Sohar University is the first of its kind in the Middle East, and was established with a financial support of $ 3.5 million.
Speaking to the Observer, Dr Hamdan al Fazari, Vice Chancellor of the University, said the project is a major initiative in the history of universities in the country and this marks a great milestone as it ensures both quality in education and creating job opportunities to the Omani citizens.
“We are proud to be hosting this event as we are the first to provide such an advanced service to our students in the region. Additionally, all those who are operating Grace Technology are Omanis, who are specially trained to carry out the tasks,” the dean said.
The Davison Circulating Riser (DCR) System is a pilot plant-scale circulating riser reactor system coupled with a continuous catalyst stripping and regeneration system. It allows to simulate the performance of refinery Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) plants, as the RFCC plant in the Sohar refinery of OQ. Researchers evaluate the catalytic cracking of high boiling refinery-derived petroleum feedstocks with the possibility to apply co-processing of bio-derived oils, like pyrolysis oils. Thereby FCC catalysts developed by Grace or various petroleum feedstocks from OQ can be applied.
The ceremony which was held in the presence of Jamal al Ajaili, chairperson of the Board of Governors, the university administration and staff besides a team from GRACE and OQ at the university campus at the Learning Resource Center building.
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