Plenary Lecture
Nanotechnology Approach in Membrane Fabrications for Environmental Applications
Professor Abdul Wahab Mohammad
Head Centre for Sustainable Process Technology (CESPRO)
Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Malaysia
E-mail: wahabm@eng.ukm.my
Abstract: Membrane process is a technology that has been widely used for various separations within the various industries. There are variety of membrane processes such as microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO), gas separation, dialisis, electrodialisis and pervaporation. For environmental applications focusing on water and wastewater treatment, UF, NF and RO have been used widely. However problems still persist especially regarding fouling-prone membranes, low flux and low selectivity. Various studies have been conducted to fabricate membranes with superior performance. Towards this end, nanotechnology approach in membrane fabrications may be the solution. Among the strategies that have been adopted include: (i) learning the behavior of membrane cell in nature and adopting it in synthetic membranes, (ii) utilization of carbon nanotubes as nanostructured pores, and (iii) utilization of other nanoparticles to produce membranes with antifouling properties. The talk will discuss these advances and future potential research areas.
Brief Biography of the Speaker: Abdul Wahab Mohammad is currently Professor in the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi and Head Centre for Sustinable Process Technology (CESPRO). He was previously Director of Industry Liaison Office and Deputy Dean of the Engineering Faculty at UKM. He joined UKM as a lecturer in 1991 and was appointed Professor of Membrane and Separation Technology in 2005. Abdul Wahab obtained his BSc from Lehigh University USA and MSc from Purdue University, USA both in Chemical Engineering. He subsequently obtained his PhD in Membrane Technology from The University of Wales, Swansea, UK. Abdul Wahab is also a registered professional engineer (PEng) with the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) and has been actively involved as a lead chemical engineering accreditor with the Engineering Accreditation Council under BEM. His research interest has been on membrane separations especially on nanofiltration and ultrafiltration for applications in Food, Biotechnology and Water industries. He was the co-recipient of the Prince Sultan International Water Award in 2008. He is also curently editorial board member for Desalination and a few other journals. He has published extensively within these areas of research with more than 1400 citations.