Sarah Almahfoodh

Ph.D. Students

Ph.D. Student

FORMER MEMBER

Location:

Bldg.4, level 4, seaside 4254-WS20

Biography

Sarah joined Saudi Aramco's R&DC in Dhahran in 2014, where she spent three years working on various membrane-related research projects including: development of membranes for natural gas processing, membrane process evaluation and development, and membrane process simulation in HYSYS.  She joined the WDRC because of her interest in the application and process of membrane technology in water treatment and desalination, especially for high salinity feeds. 

Research Interests

Despite the membrane distillation’s (MD) potential for treatment of high salinity feeds, its scale-up remains a challenge because of low water flux and temperature polarization. These limitations are strongly linked to multiple aspects of the separation process, particularly the process configuration, the membrane, and the module design. Sarah’s research is focused on MD’s scale-up by investigating each of these aspects, which are conveyed in three different chapters: the process, the membrane, and the module and integration.

Education

  • M.Sc, Chemical Engineering- Process Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands, 2019
  • B.Sc., Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado, USA, 2014

Professional Profile

  • 2014-2017: Research Engineer, Saudi Aramco R&DC, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Scientific and Professional Membership

  • IWA student chapter

KAUST Affiliations

  • ​​Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC)
  • Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE)

Research Interests Keywords

membrane distillation, water desalination, photothermal membrane, hollow fiber membrane, membrane distillation scale-up