SUSTAINABLE DESALINATION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Research Scientist, MIST ( 2011 - 2012 )
- Student, Chemical Engineering, Advanced Water Management Centre, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
In September 2009, Ali started his master's degree in Dr. F. Ahmad's group in the Water and Environmental Engineering at Masdar Institute (MI) and defended his thesis in June 2011. His MSc thesis titled "New Methods for The Identification and Quantification of Nitrate, Nitrite, And Perchlorate in Natural and Engineered Systems" involved significant work on Liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and an application on Bio-Electrochemical systems (BESs), mainly Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs).
Ali worked as a Research Engineer in Dr. Arafat's group for about 14 months starting July 2011, working on Membrane desalination. In this research, he worked on the removal of boron in new generation reverse osmosis (RO) membranes using two-pass RO configurations and without pH adjustment. In September 2012, he worked as Teaching Assistant (TA) at MI for the Membrane Technology course until January 2013.
Starting 2013, Ali Farhat joined Advanced Water Management Centre (AWMC) at the University of Queensland (UQ), Brisbane, Australia, to pursue his PhD studies in Chemical Engineering. His current research project is investigating "A New Generation of Advanced Oxidation Technologies: Electro-generated Sulfate Radicals for Complete Destruction of Persistent Pollutants".
When not in the lab, Ali would be running in the field, playing soccer or basketball or even just practicing running. Besides being very passionate about playing sports, Ali has another passion for art, history, and geopolitics.
Job Titles:
- Student, Masdar Institute. Thesis Subject
Dr. Elena Guillen joined Dr. Arafat's group at Masdar Institute as a postdoctoral associate in September 2011 and worked on the development of specific experimental protocols for the characterization of MD membranes for desalination, fouling processes and other applications of membranes. As a postdoctoral researcher at Masdar Institute of Technology, Dr. Guillen's research primarily focused on testing and understanding the dynamics of various physic-chemical processes in the MD process by studying a large number of commercial membranes as well as developing new membranes and assessing them. The assessment of the novel membrane prototypes included extensive testing: determination of permeation rates, breakthrough, salt rejection, separation and thermal efficiency, etc. Dr. Guillen also focused on understanding the membrane fouling mechanisms and their influence on MD membrane wetting, distillate quality and overall MD process performance. A big part of her research was focusing on determining the effect of the morphology of the MD membranes on the wetting processes.
Dr. Guillen received her bachelor in Environmental Sciences (2004) from Salamanca University, Salamanca, Spain, and then completed her Master in Environmental Engineering & Water Management from the EOI, Madrid, Spain, in 2006. After two years working for the industry, she received a national grant to pursue a PhD in the field of solar desalination. She joined the Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA), the biggest solar research center in Europe, where she worked for 4 years in the research solar desalination group of Dr. Julian Blanco in collaboration with the University of Almeria. Dr. Guillen's doctoral research focused on the experimental investigation of the coupling characterization and assessment of membrane distillation and solar thermal energy as an alternative desalination process. During her PhD, Dr. Guillen participated as a lecturer in the University of Almeria Master on Solar Energy as well as in international courses on desalination (PRODES Course on Desalination powered by renewable energy and EDS Course on Desalination with Solar Energy). She also participated in several European research projects (Promotion of renewable energy for water production through desalination: PRODES; Seawater desalination by innovative solar-powered membrane-distillation system: MEDESOL) and national projects (CONSORCIO SOLAR DE I+D (CONSOLIDA) Project CENIT with ABENGOA SOLAR, etc.) as responsible for the experimental part and the reporting to the European Commission.
Job Titles:
- Water and Environmental Engineering Program
Job Titles:
- Postdoctoral Associate, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, , Abu Dhabi, UAE
Dr. Rinku Thomas joined Dr. Arafat's Research group at Masdar in September 2011, under the department of Water and Environmental Engineering. She worked on the preparation and characterization of novel membranes for the Membrane Distillation process.
At Masdar, Dr. Rinku's research primarily focused on morphology changes induced as a characteristic of fabrication parameters. She also investigated the role of novel additives and process parameters in pore formation and also their influence on key membrane parameters such as the morphology, hydrophobicity, Liquid entry Pressure [LEP] and the pore size distribution [PSD], together with many other parameters such as mechanical strength and crystallinity. The final goal of the study was to identify and bring to practical application suitable membranes which would stand the intricate demands of Membrane Distillation.
Dr. Rinku received her bachelor in Chemistry (1997) from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala State, India and then completed her Master in Polymer Chemistry from the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala State, India in 2000, where she investigated the Hydrogels for water Purification from nanosized- impurities. She then moved to CUSAT to pursue a Ph.D. program in Polymer Science and Engineering, working on conducting polymers for Microwave applications.
Dr. Rinku's doctoral research focused on synthesis chemistry of conducting polymer for microwave application. Different classes of conducting polymers such as Polyaniline, Polythiophene and polypyrrole were successfully synthesised as Inter penetrating networks and with variation in morphology due to the additions of various doping agents.
Job Titles:
- Postdoctoral Associate, Masdar Institute ( 2015 - Present )
Job Titles:
- Student, Masdar Institute. Thesis Subject
Eanna Farrell, M.Sc. student, Masdar Institute. Thesis subject: integrated desalination-agriculture process for sustainable farming in arid regions (2014 - Present)
Job Titles:
- Student, Masdar Institute. Thesis Title
Jehad Kharraz, M.Sc. student, Masdar Institute. Thesis title: "Development of corrugated polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes for fouling control in membrane bioreactors (MBR) and membrane distillation (MD)" (2013 - 2015)
Jehad Kharraz graduated in 2015 earning a MSc. in Water and Environmental Engineering from Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. He holds a BSc in Civil Engineering. In December 2013, he joined Dr. Arafat's group as a research assistant. His research focused on the investigation and development of novel PVDF membranes by phase inversion for membrane distillation (MD) applications.
While part of the MSDR group, Jehad worked on developing and testing a novel membrane with integrated spacer for MD. Spacers placed in between the membranes promote turbulence and enhance membrane work; however, using spacers would lead to higher cell resistance and thus to higher power consumption. Having a spacer directly on the membrane surface (membrane with integrated spacer) would gain the advantage of turbulence promotion and at the same time will overcome the disadvantage of thick spacers that increase the cell resistance.
Jehad also worked on the development and testing of novel membranes to be used in membrane bioreactors for wastewater treatment. These membranes were tested for use in an aerobic membrane bioreactor (MBR), and in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor based on membrane distillation (AnMDBR). MD can possibly be used for treating wastewater by means of a suitable combination of a thermophilic anaerobic bioreactor and membrane distillation system. The AnMDBR has the potential of achieving in one step the reclamation obtained by the combined Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) and Reverse Osmoses (RO) process. This was done in two main steps: firstly developing a flat sheet membrane module system for direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) including the setting up and verification of the system; secondly, investigation of the best operational conditions for the coupling of a thermophilic anaerobic bioreactor with DCMD.
Jehad's research interests are in the fields of membrane distillation, sustainable desalination, wastewater treatment, and solid waste treatment and management.
Kenan Jijakli graduated in 2012 earning a MS. in Water and Environmental Engineering from MI. He was a member of Dr. Arafat's research group at Masdar Institute where he worked on two main projects. The first project was a technical, economic and environmental comparison of different desalination processes. Along with an assessment of desalination processes, he investigated the environmental impact of using desalination as a water treatment process to provide inland rural communities with water. A central tool in this project was Life Cycle Assessment modeling to quantify the environmental impact from the emissions, processes and materials involved in each desalination technology.
Kenan Jijakli, M.Sc. student, thesis subject: Environmental Assessment using LCA approach: a case study on solar desalination and waste-to-energy technologies, MIST (2010-2012)
Lin was an MSc student in Prof. Arafat's group. She graduated in 2013. Her research focused on the development of electrospun eco-efficient poly (lactic acid) (PLA) membranes for membrane distillation and microfiltration. Membrane distillation is a promising technique which can be coupled with solar energy and waste heat. Due to the hydrophobicity and biodegradability of PLA materials, electrospun PLA membranes are potential candidates for membrane distillation. Lin put much effort into the post heat treatment of electrospun membranes, modifying their mechanical strength and the corresponding pore size range. Annealing treatment and hot pressing were employed and the results of these processes were compared to one another as part of the development of suitable treatment process to obtain membrane distillation membranes.
For extracurricular activities, Lin is interested in cooking, yoga and traveling.
Lin Li, M.Sc. student, thesis subject: Novel membranes for membrane distillation process, MIST (2011-2013)
Job Titles:
- Student, Interdisciplinary Doctorate Program, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Student, Masdar Institute. Thesis Subject
Navya Thomas, PhD student, Masdar Institute. Thesis subject: Novel membranes distillation systems for reduced fouling and enhanced energy efficiency (2015 - Present)
Navya is a first year PhD candidate in Dr.Arafat's research group. She completed her undergraduate studies in Biotechnology Engineering in 2008 and then worked in the UAE wastewater industry for two years gaining wastewater process design experience. Her keen interest to further enhance her technical knowledge guided her in pursuing her MSc degree in Water and Wastewater Engineering from Cranfield University, UK. Her MSc thesis under the supervision of Dr.Bruce Jefferson focused on the study of fate of nanoparticles during sewage treatment. As a student, she was a proud recipient of the British Water Award in 2011 for her project work titled ‘Design of full-scale sewage treatment works to upgrade/replace existing works to achieve AMP5 requirements' for Severn Trent Water. On completion of her MSc in 2011, she worked as a Research Assistant for seven months with Severn Trent Water to understand the effectiveness of different elements of the sludge treatment process in relation to pathogen kill and to recommend the best method for achieving a log 2 pathogen reduction across the Severn Trent asset base. She returned to UAE in 2012 and continued to work in the water and wastewater Industry as a Process Engineer with a design firm and later as a consultant engineer with AECOM Middle East.
After her short stint in the industry, she has forayed back into the research world with a keen interest to play her part as a water crusader. One of her research topics will be to better understand the fouling propensities of vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) process and its mitigation measures. Studies on membrane distillation processes are gaining worldwide significance in the recent years as it is a low energy desalination alternative to reverse osmosis. She is also interested in decoding the scientific debate in existence for more than 50 years over the use and application of magnetized water.
In her leisure time, Navya enjoys dancing, pencil sketching and reading.
Job Titles:
- Student, Interdisciplinary Doctorate Program, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Student, Masdar Institute. Thesis Subject
Pelin is a second year Ph.D. student working in Prof. Arafat's MSDR group. Her research focuses on the computational fluid dynamics simulation of transport phenomena in membranes used in membrane distillation systems for water desalination.
In 2008, Pelin received her B.Sc. degree from Chemical Engineering Department at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) and she immediately continued her M.Sc. At the beginning of her master studies, she also started working as a research and teaching assistant and gained teaching experience until 2013, especially in Transport Phenomena. During her master studies under the supervision of Prof. Ahmet Tuncer Erciyes, she focused on the synthesis of novel coating materials based on chemically modified triglyceride oil and fatty acids of sunflower oil that have lower impact on the environment. As a part of the continuing interest in developing coating materials with improved properties, she combined the nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization method and click chemistry approach during the production process. After the completion of her M.Sc., she continued her research in the same field at the ITU until 2013.
Rasha Saffarini is a Masdar Institute Alumina. During her study years at Masdar, she worked in Prof. Arafat ‘s group. Her research project was in collaboration with the MIT's Mechanical Engineering Department. Her research focused on the enhancement and development of solar powered membrane distillation desalination. These processes have great potential for sustainably producing drinking water. Rasha was also particularly interested in micro-porous structural evolution of PTFE membranes used in the membrane distillation process, and her research explored the relationships between membrane structure and its performance, in terms of wetting. Her broader motivation in research is to increase access to drinking water in areas of scarce water resources.
Currently, Rasha is working as an environmental consultant with Ramboll Middle East and has been involved in several multi disciplinary water and environmental projector in the region.
Sanaa was a member of the Sustainability Club on campus and as an Institute ambassador; she frequently gave tours to the many people who visited Masdar City to see firsthand the various initiatives undertaken to make this futuristic city truly sustainable. She enjoys baking and shopping for her nephews and nieces.
Job Titles:
- Visiting Student at Masdar Institute. MSc Student at KU Leuven, Belgium ( Advisor
Sarah joined prof. Arafat's research team at Masdar Institiute as a visiting student for three months, working on the research project for master thesis under the supervision of Dr. Muhammad Roil Bilad. This exchange opportunity was made possible through the collaboration between the Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis (KU Leuven, Belgium) and Membranes & Sustainable Desalination Research Group (Masdar Institute, UAE). During her stay in the UAE, Sarah's work focuses on the tailoring of PVDF membrane properties to optimize the harvesting of specific marine microalgae via microfiltration. The aspects of phase inversion as well as their role in the performance of the membranes will be intensively studied. The difference in morphology and performance of membranes prepared via direct immersion (DI) and vapour induced phase separation (VIPS) is a key element is the research. She will continue her work in Leuven, promoted by prof. Ivo Vankelecom, by further modification of the membranes and testing the filtration on freshwater algae.
Job Titles:
- Student ( Co - Advisor ), Thesis Subject
Stephen Fadeyi was pursuing his MSc. in Water and Environmental Engineering and he graduated in 2013. During his studies at Masdar Institute, he focused his research on the "Life Cycle Assessment of Natural Gas combined Cycle Integrated with CO 2 Post-Combustion Capture Plant using Chemical Solvent". He was working with Dr. Mohammad Abu Zahra and was co- advised by Dr. Hassan Arafat.
Stephen's interest lies in the area of environmental management and sustainability through life cycle assessment and other environmental performance assessment tools. He was working on the emission cycle of natural gas upstream to combustion, combustion process and capture of CO 2. His research focused on the environmental trade-offs of CO 2 capture from a natural gas combined cycle.
Stephen Fadeyi, M.Sc. student (co-advisor), thesis subject: Life Cycle Analysis of carbon capture technology, MIST (2011-2013)
Tariq Al Serkal received his BSc in Civil Engineering from the higher colleges of technology, Dubai, UAE, and then completed his Master in Water and Environmental Engineering in Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE, in 2013. He has previously worked as an infrastructure engineer in the Du Telecommunications Company in Dubai. Tariq's master thesis focused on the application of the Life-cycle Assessment (LCA) in the field of desalination technology, a prominent industry in the UAE. The focus of Tariq's LCA research was on the comparison between traditional sedimentation-based pretreatment and the more recent membrane-based pretreatment processes for RO plants. The main area of his study was the Fujairah-1 plant in UAE. Tariq was a presenter in the "Membranes in Drinking and Industrial Water Production" Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, 10-12 September 2012 conference. The title of his presentation was Ultrafiltration versus sedimentation-based pretreatment for seawater feed to RO plants: Environmental impact assessment. As an output of his thesis work, Tariq published the findings from his research in the Desalination journal (2013). Tariq's research interests include environmental impact assessment tools and their applications in high-impact industries in the UAE, particularly water provision, transmission and reuse.
Job Titles:
- Research Engineer, Masdar Institute ( 2015 - Present )
Virginie was a Research Engineer in Dr. Arafat's lab where she simultaneously organized the laboratory and did research work. Her main projects were focused on high density micro-algae separation/filtration and developing high efficiency membrane distillation configurations in collaboration with MIT.
Virgine completed her undergraduate studies in chemistry in 2009 and then worked in France for Degrémont Services for one year. She was working at a wastewater treatment plant, thereby gaining experience in wastewater processes. She then started her professional master's degree in chemistry and specialized in water treatment, following up on her industrial experience. She validated her postgraduate degree by working as a water treatment engineer for the last 6 months of her degree at the same wastewater treatment plant where she had worked previously. Her main task was to commission the sludge treatment, to write operating instructions and datasheets, and to analyze operating results and establish reports and plans for the plant. After completing her MSc, Virginie worked for Veolia for more than one year as a sanitation control engineer where her main tasks were to sell to, advise and follow-up with customers on sanitation facilities; and to regulate public and private sanitation facilities to ensure that national standards were met. Virginie then arrived in the UAE where she first worked as a Research Engineer in Dr. Shadi Hassan's group at Masdar Institute, where her main project was focused on developing new adsorbents to treat heavy metals in industrial wastewater. She also organized the laboratory and helped students in their research tasks.
While she was in France, Virginie was a volunteer firefighter for more than 10 years. Along with her firefighting work, she also did emergency first aid in basic and road rescue conditions. During her free time, Virginie like doing sports (dragon boat, Zumba, badminton, jogging, etc.), listening to music, and reading. She also loves travelling within the UAE and throughout the GCC countries.