Dr Lateef Akanji, University of Aberdeen

Industrial Fellowships 2024

 

Dr Lateef Akanji, coordinator of the MSc petroleum engineering programme at the School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen, has an international reputation for developing and delivering courses on all aspects of petroleum engineering. His students learn about petroleum production systems, field development planning, well design and optimisation, and numerical simulation of flow in porous media and pipes.  

With the current global demand for clean energy and sustainable production, the energy transition from fossil fuel to low-carbon energy sources has become critical. During this transition phase, oil and gas will continue to play a key role in energy use. Dr Akanji is exploring how the impact of methane emission and accidental discharge of oil and gas during production and transportation can be minimised. During transportation and when the petroleum product transfers from large oil tanker to unloading bay, hydrocarbon may spill into the environment. Discharge of oil into the environment is harmful, capable of causing pollution, ocean acidification, increased toxicity, and loss of money.  
  
As part of his Industrial Fellowship, Dr Akanji is working with an industrial partner to develop a new emergency release device to reduce or prevent flow of oil into the environment during tanker breakout. Current design requires an amount of product to be discharged to the environment during an activation or incident. This new device will allow for a much shorter closure to be achieved, thereby reducing or preventing fluid discharge, particularly in environmentally sensitive areas. 

 

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Personal website: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/engineering/people/profiles/l.akanji