News

  A team of researchers from Khalifa University has developed a breakthrough approach to water treatment as innovative low-cost, eco-friendly membrane could revolutionize toxic phenol removal from water.    Removing phenol from industrial water is a pressing global issue. A persistent organic pollutant, phenol is commonly used in agriculture and general disinfection. Long-term exposure to phenol can damage human health and potentially cause cancer, but despite the risks, phenol is an indispensable chemical in various manufacturing industries, making it hard to completely eliminate its use.   However, its poor biodegradability means it cannot be removed from wastewater by conventional methods.…

  An innovative electrochemical process unlocks the potential of mining wastewater by recovering valuable metal ions and transforming them into valuable end products for a greener future.   A team of researchers from Khalifa University’s Center for Membranes & Advanced Water Technology (CMAT) and Catalysis and Separations (CeCaS) has developed a sustainable electrochemical process to recover metal ions in wastewater, turning them into valuable end products for energy conversion and storage applications. Dr. Bharath Govindan, Research Scientist, Abdul Hai, Research Associate, Dr. Rambabu Krishnamoorthy, Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Mohammad Abu Haija, Associate Professor, and Prof. Fawzi Banat, Chair of the Chemical…

A team of researchers from Khalifa University has developed a sustainable and green membrane using graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes to safely and effectively remove excess nutrients from wastewater.    Dr. Shadi W. Hasan, Associate Professor and Director of the Khalifa University Center for Membranes and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT), Prof. Fawzi Banat, Chair of the Khalifa University Chemical Engineering Department, Dr. Hanaa Hegab, Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Vijay Wadi, Research Scientist, Hiyam Khalil and Lobna Nassar, both graduate students, developed a membrane with the potential for practical use in real wastewater-treatment applications.   They published their results in npj Clean…

Membrane-based organic solvent nanofiltration could save up to 90 percent of the energy required to reuse solvents in various industries. A team of researchers from Khalifa University’s Center for Membranes and Advanced Technology has developed a new nature-inspired membrane for this technique using holey graphene.    The broad spectrum of solvents with differing chemical and physical properties means there are myriad applications for their use. These solvents, for instance, are used in up to 90 percent of the processes used in the pharmaceutical industry. However, recovering these solvents for re-use typically requires energy-intensive processes.   Membrane-based organic solvent nanofiltration-separation techniques,…

While desalination technology is becoming increasingly popular as costs come down and demand for water grows, some sociopolitical factors still hamper its adoption.   Water scarcity is a global challenge, with growing populations putting pressure on a finite supply of water. Responding to this challenge is desalination technology, with the cost of desalinated water coming down as technology evolves.   Desalination, however, is plagued by some serious problems, including environmental issues. Often overlooked are the sociopolitical factors impacting the adoption and proliferation of this technology, but a team from Khalifa University has used multiple cases from several countries to identify…

  Researchers Filed For a Patent License For The Mask’s Bio-Material   View this post on Instagram A post shared by جامعة خليفة (@khalifa_university) on Oct 12, 2020 at 7:16am PDT Khalifa University of Science and Technology today announced a team of researchers has successfully developed the first working prototypes of NavaMASK, a fully ‘biodegradable’, ‘biocompatible’, environment-friendly and novel anti-viral adaptive face mask with nanofibers that will have strong anti-microbial properties. The researchers have already filed for a patent license for the mask’s bio-material.   NavaMASK will offer excellent breathability with strong anti-microbial properties and can be washed and reused…

Ceramic membranes offers several advantages over the polymeric membranes. Ceramic membranes have a narrow pore size distribution, are resistant to aggressive chemicals, high temperatures and provide a comparatively longer service life. Prof. Shadi Hasan has established a collaboration with a ceramic membrane international company (CERAFILTEC) which will help in supplying the ceramic membranes as well as being a potential collaborator seeking an externally funded project in the field of wastewater treatment using ceramic membranes.      

Prof. Hector H. Hernandez conducted two research visits to Northumbria University to establish a research collaboration and the Academic Development Centre on new generation biofuels for future clean energy and transport. The proposed research will explore and test the technical potential of production and application of new generation of biofuels and its environmental aspects for future clean transport. New findings from this project will help to address global challenges and achieve targets set for future clean fuels and internal combustion engines. This network will facilitate research workshops and seminars and attract academics, businesses and local government organizations to advance in…

Prof. Hassan Arafat conducted a research visit to Wageningen University and TNO, Netherlands. This visit follows a visit by the Netherlands Embassy in UAE to CMAT, where they expressed interest in fostering a research collaboration between CMAT and Dutch applied research universities and industry with innovative water and agriculture technologies, on the other. The embassy offered to facilitate the communication with Dutch universities and companies and provide a seed funding to cover the engagement of the Dutch parties. The goal of this collaboration is to demonstrate the coupling of novel desalination/water treatment technologies (developed by CMAT members and/or Dutch researchers)…

An aircraft loaded with a new cloud seeding material developed by Khalifa University has taken flight to seed warm clouds in UAE skies. The cloud seeding material developed by Khalifa University’s Dr. Linda Zou, Professor of Civil Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering, has generated significant attention since Dr. Zou won in 2016 a USD 1.5 million, 3-year grant from the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science (UAEREP) to research the use of nanotechnology to enhance rainfall. Over the past three years, Dr. Zou’s team has made steady progress towards designing and fabricating the nanotechnology-enabled cloud seeding materials in the lab.…

A new type of 3D-printed feed spacer could make membrane-based seawater desalination processes, such as reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration, more efficient, according to new findings by researchers at Khalifa University’s Center for Membranes and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT). The feed spacers, designed and manufactured with the help of 3D printing to achieve complex geometries and sizes, are described most recently in the Journal of Membrane Science, by a team led by KU’s Dr. Hassan Arafat, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Director of CMAT. The team also includes professors Rashid Abu Al-Rub, Hector Hernandez and Giovanni Palmisano as well as researchers…

Third Research Paper on Use of Graphene in Desalination Published A partnership between The University of Manchester and Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi has developed graphene-based membranes to take salts out of water. In recent years the depletion rate of fresh water resources, growing global population and climate change have seen a serious need to address not only our water demands for today but also for the future. Recently published in the Journal of Membrane Science, the third paper to be published from the project, the team of researchers are working to tackle one of the…

A previously unutilized effect of magnetism observed by Khalifa University’s Dr. Emad Alhseinat may be key to energy-efficient, low-cost seawater desalination and other industrial separation processes In a world of dwindling freshwater resources and rising greenhouse gases, researchers are constantly searching for affordable, more sustainable ways to turn seawater into potable drinking water, without further straining the planet’s natural resources or increasing global greenhouse gas emissions. Now, a team of researchers from Khalifa University’s Center for Membranes and Advanced Technology (CMAT), led by Dr. Emad Alhseinat, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, have discovered a new way to separate salt from…

An advanced water treatment membrane made of electrically conductive nanofibers developed at Masdar Institute was highlighted by Dr. Raed Hashaikeh, Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Masdar Institute, in his keynote speech during the 3rd International Conference on Desalination using Membrane Technology held last week in Spain. Self-cleaning membranes offer a critically needed solution to the problem of fouling, which is the unwanted build-up of organic and inorganic deposits on a membrane’s surface that reduces the membrane’s ability to filter impurities. Water treatment and purification membranes that can easily clean themselves when fouled could make pressure-driven membrane filtration systems…

Membranes made from carefully arranged graphene layers could help transform seawater desalination from an energy intensive process into one that is significantly more energy efficient. Such a transformation would reduce the carbon footprint and power demand of countries that rely on desalination to meet their freshwater needs, like the UAE, but current technological limitations make large-scale, low-cost fabrication of graphene membranes challenging. Now, researchers from Masdar Institute have come up with an innovative synthesis technique that could help take graphene-based filters a step closer towards becoming competitive with their conventional polymer membrane counterparts. The technique uses a “bottom-up” approach, which…