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Energy policy and sector developments in Greece in the last decades reveal the government and investors' intentions to exploit the energy resources and production potential of the country. Developments regard renewable and hydrocarbon energy sources. Agreements with international companies come with economic terms attached and the prospect of related sectors' development, employment generation, research and innovation. Developments, particularly those related to hydrocarbons exploration, take place in times of climate change mitigation and adaptation and actions to ensure environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable development in line with the goals set out in the United Nations Agenda for 2030 and the European Green Deal. Given these challenges, the design and implementation of timely policies that can promote local supply capacity appear to be of primary importance. This chapter discusses the challenges and opportunities of designing and implementing local content policies with the intention to derive useful policy considerations. The discussion draws from the latest developments with hydrocarbons exploration and production activities in Greece and from the recent relevant to local content literature. The analysis concludes that in the face of climate action, rapid technological innovation, and the high capital intensity that characterize the sector, knowledge transfer, and education upgrade emerge as important factors of achieving sustainable growth through local content policies.

Petroleum hydrocarbons are naturally occurring flammable fossil fuels used as conventional energy sources. It has carcinogenic, mutagenic properties and is considered a hazardous pollutant. Soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons adversely affects the properties of soil. This paper aim to remove pollutants from the environment is an urgent need of the hour to maintain the proper functioning of soil ecosystems.

The ability of micro-organisms to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons makes it possible to use these microorganisms to clean the environment from petroleum pollution. For preparing this review, research papers and review articles related to petroleum hydrocarbons degradation by micro-organisms were collected from journals and various search engines.

Various physical and chemical methods are used for remediation of petroleum hydrocarbons contaminants. However, these methods have several disadvantages. This paper will discuss a novel understanding of petroleum hydrocarbons degradation and how micro-organisms help in petroleum-contaminated soil restoration. Bioremediation is recognized as the most environment-friendly technique for remediation. The research studies demonstrated that bacterial consortium have high biodegradation rate of petroleum hydrocarbons ranging from 83% to 89%.

Proper management of petroleum hydrocarbons pollutants from the environment is necessary because of their toxicity effects on human and environmental health.

This paper discussed novel mechanisms adopted by bacteria for biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons, aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation pathways, genes and enzymes involved in petroleum hydrocarbons biodegradation.

With the global financial crisis, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) experienced its own unraveling of macro-financial imbalances and thus presents an interesting case to analyze the underlying fragilities in federal governments. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the evolution of fiscal policy in the UAE at consolidated and subnational levels in the run-up and after the crisis, and provide pertinent insights about the importance of policy coordination in other federal fiscal systems – and monetary unions, as brought to light by the recent developments in Europe.

In measuring the cyclicality of fiscal balances at the consolidated and emirate level in the UAE, this paper uses the non-hydrocarbon primary budget balance, excluding interest spending and hydrocarbon revenues, investment income of the sovereign wealth fund, scaled by non-hydrocarbon GDP. The cyclically adjusted primary balance is estimated by deducting cyclical components from the actual balance. It is important to correct for cyclical changes because the budget balance tends to vary endogenously according the state of the economy – deteriorating during a bust and improving in a boom. Furthermore, since hydrocarbon revenues are dependent on the erratic behavior of hydrocarbon prices, the cyclically adjusted non-hydrocarbon primary balance is computed, using the elasticity of non-hydrocarbon revenues and primary expenditures relative to non-hydrocarbon GDP, to assess whether fiscal policy exacerbates economic fluctuations in the UAE at the aggregate and emirate levels.

The empirical findings show that procyclical fiscal policies prior to the crisis reinforced the financial sector cycle, exacerbated the economic upswing, and thereby contributed to the build-up of macro-financial vulnerabilities. The paper also sets out policy lessons to develop a rule-based fiscal framework that would help strengthen fiscal policy coordination between the various layers of government and ensure long-term fiscal sustainability and a more equitable intergenerational distribution of wealth.

The lack of fiscal policy coordination among subnational governments complicates macro-economic management at the federal level. Since the UAE has a pegged exchange rate regime and consequently a limited scope to use monetary policy, the burden of macro-economic stabilization falls on fiscal policy. Accordingly, this paper shows that procyclical fiscal policies prior to the crisis reinforced the “financial accelerator” effect, exacerbated the economic cycle, and thereby contributed to the build-up of economic and financial vulnerabilities in the UAE.

Purpose – This work aims to study the treatment of adsorbant on the increasing liquid hydrocarbon quality produced by pyrolysis low density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic waste at low temperature. The hydrocarbon distribution, physicochemical properties and emission test were also studied due to its application in internal combustion engine. This research uses pure Calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) and pure activated carbon as adsorbant, LDPE type clear plastic samples with control variable that is solar gas station.

Design/Methodology/Approach – LDPE plastic waste of 10 kg were vaporized in the thermal cracking batch reactor using LPG 12 kg as fuel at range temperature from 100 to 300°C and condensed into liquid hydrocarbon. Furthermore, this product was treated with the mixed CaCO₃ and activated carbon as adsorbants to decrease contaminant material.

Findings – GC-MS identified the presence of carbon chain in the range of C6–C44 with 24.24% of hydrocarbon compounds in the liquid. They are similar to diesel (C6–C14). The 30% of liquid yields were found at operating temperature of 300°C. The calorific value of liquid was 46.021 MJ/Kg. This value was 5.07% higher than diesel as control.

Originality/Value – Hydrocarbon compounds in liquid produced by thermal cracking at a low temperature was similar to liquid from a catalytic process.

The objective of this paper is to measure the differences in heat transfer properties of refined hydrocarbon distillate fractions that are commonly used as base oils in aluminium sheet cold rolling applications and assess if the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) values for these oils can be predicted from their compositions. The composition and physical properties of these fluids affect their tribological behaviour by influencing hydrodynamic lubrication, wear debris removal and cooling.

A purpose-built test rig was used to measure HTCs for a wide range of hydrocarbon solvents used as aluminium cold rolling oils. The results are expressed in the form of the HTCs relative to those of 14- to 16-carbon-chain-length normal paraffins. Measured HTC values were compared to values calculated from oil compositions and from the thermal conductivities of compounds representing different classes of typical oil components.

There were significant differences between the heat transfer properties of various hydrocarbon solvents, and these differences could be estimated from their content of normal and simple iso-paraffins and heavily branched and cyclic hydrocarbons. The HTC of hydrocarbon mixtures increases with the increasing content of n-paraffinic compounds.

This paper shows how one can estimate the relative HTCs of oils of known compositions, based on the relative thermal conductivities of model compounds. This is relevant to prediction of cooling properties of aluminium cold rolling base oils.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new ionic compound free soldering process.

The ability of hydrocarbons including 9,10‐dihydroanthracene, eicosane, 2,6,10,14‐tetramethylpentadecane, cyclooctane, and dicyclopentadiene to reduce cuprous or cupric oxide was investigated. The applicability of hydrocarbons as ion free flux reagents was experimentally examined. The hydrocarbons were applied to the soldering of pre‐oxidized copper electrodes under practical conditions.

A 9,10‐dihydroanthracene was found to be efficient at reducing cuprous or cupric oxide powder under an argon atmosphere at 300°C for 2 min. The high‐reducing ability of the hydrocarbon is in agreement with the low‐homolytical C−H bond dissociation energy calculated based on the density functional theory. A 9,10‐dihydroanthracene was shown, by the highest soldering efficiency and sufficient reliability in the environmental testing, to be applicable as an ion‐free soldering flux.

The findings of this paper suggest a new method for an ionic compound free soldering process.

Purpose – This paper aims to detect or identify the presence of hydrocarbon infiltration on sampling point in the Rambe River area according to the obtained VOCs and the adsorbed SVOCs.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The Gore-sorber method has been used to capture volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) as indicators of subsurface hydrocarbon generation and entrapment. This method is usually used in environmental surveys for the oil investigations in certain areas for surface survey screening, designed to collect a broad range of VOCs and (SVOCs) at lower concentrations, quickly and inexpensively. The results also indicated a general correlation between the GORE-SORBER and reference method data. The research was conducted in Rambe River Village, Tebing Tinggi sub-district of Tanjung Jabung Barat district, Jambi Province Indonesia. The collection of the Gore-Sorber modules were analyzed using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer thermal desorption (GC/MS).

Findings – The results showed that from all sampling points in Tebing Tinggi areas, the dominant components detected are carbonyl sulphide, dimethyl sulfide, ethane, propane, butane, 2-methyl butane, pentane, and carbon sulfide with carbon chain in the range C2-C5. These hydrocarbon gases (C1-C4) which may be from thermogenic or microbial processes. The highest concentrations of carbonyl sulfide were 392.67 ng and dimethyl disulfide 261.90 ng.

Originality/Value – In addition to estimate and predict the petroleum formation, this article provides information about the presence of oil fields in the area of the Sungai Rambe Village

The study aimed at developing the bioremediation model of Lapindo mud through multisymbiotic organism.

The research was conducted using completely randomized design. The model plants chosen in this research were soybean. The interaction pattern during the treatment was used to develop the bioremediation model based on the parameters.

The results showed that there was an effect of the type of organism on the parameters, namely: the growth of plant (biomass, height, length of root, and number of leaves), the biomass of root nodules, the percentage of mycorrhizal infection, the content of water, nitrogen, phosphorus, and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs). There was a pattern of multisymbiotic interaction between each organism and roles of each symbiont in that interaction. Therefore, the plants were capable of surviving in the environment of Sidoarjo Lapindo mud. This pattern can be named as the bioremediation model proposed, which is the analogy of tripartite symbiosis between plants, mycorrhizae, and Rhizobium but also adding plant growth bacteria such as phosphate-solubilizing bacteria and hydrocarbon degradation bacteria. The implementation of this model can be used to treat oil-contaminated soil in order to be used as a plant growth medium.

Phytoremediation is a new and promising approach to remove contaminants in the environment but using plants alone for remediation confronts many limitations. Therefore, the application of plant-growth-promoting rhizobia (PGPR) has been extended to remediate contaminated soils in association with plants (Zhuang et al., 2007). The development of the model will use the analogy of tripartite symbiosis between plants, mycorrhizae, and Rhizobium. The developed model will be based on the interaction pattern on each parameters obtained. Bioremediation is chosen because it is considered an effective technique to transform toxic components into less toxic products without disrupting the surrounding environment. Besides, bioremediation is cheaper and environment-friendly because it utilizes microorganisms to clean pollutants from the environment (Nugroho, 2006).

The purpose of this paper is to study the corrosion process by examining the deterioration of X80 steel exposed to a real petroleum sample containing condensed hydrocarbon plus oilfield-produced water, which were subjected to stimulated emulsions in flowing media at 50°C.

The impedance and polarization spectra were used to assess the aggressiveness of the petroleum sample and tried to find a washing process using condensed hydrocarbon with deionized water. Mössbauer technique was used to identify the phases in precipitated ions obtained during an oven-drying procedure of the oilfield produced water.

The emulsion, chloride, sulphur compounds, heavy metals and the use of a double hydrodynamic system were the most important factors affecting the corrosion of X80 steel. The corrosion rate of this steel increased when oilfield-produced water was stimulated by a double hydrodynamic system (4.56 mm/year). It was determined to be 7.66 mm/year and 4.01 mm/year when steel was exposed to a stimulated emulsion using the petroleum sample and condensed hydrocarbon with deionized water at 24 h, respectively, suggesting that a significant process of hydrocarbon washing could occur and a more corrosive solution was highlighted. Mössbauer results showed that the ions precipitates included the following phases at Wt.%: magnetite (20.0), greigeite (22.8), siderite (3.2), pyrite (2.9), marcasite (26.7) and mackinawite (24.4).

A stimulated hydrocarbon/water emulsions with a more homogeneous solution containing high concentrations of saline compounds and heavy metals were used to simulate the susceptibility to corrosion on the internal pipeline steels exposed to any type of immiscible liquids such as condensed hydrocarbon, or crude oil, containing water. A practical application of the presented research could provide a novel framework for understanding the internal corrosion in pipelines from the simulation of washed hydrocarbons after the stimulated emulsions that can be found in the field. Because more susceptibility to corrosion for pipeline steels would be expected at the end of the transportation of the fluid. It is possible to investigate the possible corrosion mechanisms by using a dried oilfield-produced water sample interacting with the pipeline steels.

A laboratory experiment was conducted in the soil laboratory in the Department of Environment and Environmental Pollution, Environment and Natural Resources Research Institute, National Centre for Research. The purpose of this paper is to study the movement of crude oil through soil column.

Polyvinyl chloride columns were filled with Shambat soil, amended with three concentrations of light crude oil (0.16, 0.32, and 1.28 ppm), obtained from Petrodar Oil Company. Soil samples were taken from 5 and 10 cm depths after two, 14 and 28 days from crude oil addition. At each sampling date, the recovery of petroleum hydrocarbons measured.

The results obtained indicated that high by significant differences among the different concentrations, different depths and different sampling durations. Moreover, the downward mobility of petroleum hydrocarbons decreased with increasing crude oil concentration.

Results of the experiment revealed the importance of studying the fate and mobility of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in soils in order to facilitate a proper reclamation practice specially in oil polluted sites.