A Professor of Environmental Microbiology at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (FUNAI) Ebonyi State, Prof. Chuma Conlette Okoro has reported from a research the potency of cow urine as a major raw material that can be used to remediate problems associated with corrosion and souring in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
Pipeline corrosion which is decay or deterioration of pipelines is a growing problem in the oil and gas industry because microorganisms which cause corrosion have now developed resistance to chemical treatments.
Okoro who spoke at 2017/2018 PTDF annual oil and gas research grant competition close-out seminar held in Abuja last week, said that the technology can save Nigeria up to $600 million annually which is the original cost of managing souring and corrosion related problems in the industry.
"The major challenge we are having today in the global oil and gas industry is microbial resistance used to fight corrosion and souring," he said about the research which was funded by the PTDF.
"Now, we are looking at the future of green biocide we can actually synthesize here without wasting our scarce foreign exchange and we are looking at the potency of cow urine as a major raw material for that green biocide.
If that urine becomes effective it will save Nigeria a lot of money from sourcing foreign exchange. We are hoping that the oil and gas industry will massively invest in ranching and that would help in solving the farmer/herder crisis," he said.
Speaking on the research, the Executive Secretary of the PTDF Dr. Bello Aliyu Gusau said Prof. Okoro's work was among five others the PTDF has funded within the 2014-2015 research grant cycle. He said the Fund's focus was on homegrown solutions to the basic challenges in the oil and gas sector.
He said one of the researchers have also developed a zeolite catalyst for the purposes of import substitution.
He said part of the mandate of the PTDF was to help operators in the sector reduce their operating cost through the production of up-to-date research in the industry.
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