Dr. Faheem Hassan Akhtar is equipped with a BSc degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Punjab. He received his Ph.D. degree (2019) in Chemical Engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). During his stay at the Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center, KAUST, he developed membranes for energy-efficient separation of gases and vapors. Dr. Faheem’s work particularly caught international attention, and various companies invited him to present his findings in the US. He worked closely with the industrial partners, including Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (MTR) CA, USA, Daimler AG, BMW, and Kraton at Houston. Dr. Faheem joined Water Desalination and Reuse Center (2019) as a Post-Doctorate Fellow.
Dr. Faheem’s research interests evolve around membrane technology and engineering. He is particularly interested in the applications of ultra-thin membranes and in the physics of penetrant induced transport of gases and vapors of polymer layers. He has pioneered membranes for water vapor removal and atmospheric water harvesting.
Before joining LUMS in 2021, Dr. Faheem has served in industry and as a lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at King Abdulaziz University. Dr. Faheem is the recipient of the KAUST Ph.D. fellowship Award and was nominated for the Patrick Maeres Award in the field of Membrane Science at Euromembrane Conference in Denmark, 2021.
Dr. Faheem leads the Laboratory of Advanced Membranes and Separations (LAMS) at LUMS. His group is engaged in developing high-performance membranes and adsorbents for applications in industrially important and energy-intensive separations, such as carbon capture, industrial wastewater treatment, nanofiltration, drinking water production, sensing applications, and atmospheric water harvesting. His research has been highlighted in Nature Middle East, Nature Reviews Chemistry, KAUST Discovery, and the North American Membrane Society (NAMS) Quarterly magazines. Dr. Faheem’s research has been published in some top journals of the field, such as Advanced Energy Materials, Angewandte Chemie, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Journal of Membrane Science, Desalination, Water Research, and Macromolecules. He is also co-inventor of 6 patents that are provisionally granted. Dr. Faheem is on the editorial board of Journals including Membranes and is a fellow of the North American Membrane Society (NAMS), European Membrane Society (EMS), Membrane Society of Australia (MSA), and the Secretary of the Pakistan Membrane Society (PMS).
| Title | Publication | Author | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| A novel zero-liquid discharge desalination system based on the humidification-dehumidification process: A preliminary study | Water Research | 2021 | |
| Author Correction: A thermodynamic platform for evaluating the energy efficiency of combined power generation and desalination plants (npj Clean Water, (2021), 4, 1, (25), 10.1038/s41545-021-00114-5) | npj Clean Water | 2021 | |
| A thermodynamic platform for evaluating the energy efficiency of combined power generation and desalination plants | npj Clean Water | 2021 | |
| A hybrid indirect evaporative cooling-mechanical vapor compression process for energy-efficient air conditioning | Energy Conversion and Management | 2021 | |
| Defining sulfonation limits of poly(ether-ether-ketone) for energy-efficient dehumidification | Journal of Materials Chemistry A | 2021 | |
| A decentralized water/electricity cogeneration system integrating concentrated photovoltaic/thermal collectors and vacuum multi-effect membrane distillation | Energy | 2021 | |
| Innovative concentrated photovoltaic thermal (CPV/T) system with combined hydrogen and MgO based storage | International Journal of Hydrogen Energy | 2021 | |
| A zero liquid discharge system integrating multi-effect distillation and evaporative crystallization for desalination brine treatment | Desalination | 2021 | |
| A Universal Mathematical Methodology in Characterization of Materials for Tailored Design of Porous Surfaces | Frontiers in Chemistry | 2021 | |
| Molecular engineering of high-performance nanofiltration membranes from intrinsically microporous poly(ether-ether-ketone) | Journal of Materials Chemistry A | 2020 | |
| NEXARTM-coated hollow fibers for air dehumidification | Journal of Membrane Science | 2020 | |
| Simultaneous production of cooling and freshwater by an integrated indirect evaporative cooling and humidification-dehumidification desalination cycle | Energy Conversion and Management | 2020 | |
| Thermo-economic analysis and optimization of a vacuum multi-effect membrane distillation system | Desalination | 2020 | |
| Development of highly permeable and selective mixed matrix membranes based on Pebax??1657 and NOTT-300 for CO |
Separation and Purification Technology | 2020 | |
| Scalable Synthesis of Amphiphilic Copolymers for CO |
Macromolecules | 2019 | |
| Giant Humidity Effect on Hybrid Halide Perovskite Microstripes: Reversibility and Sensing Mechanism | ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces | 2019 | |
| Highways for water molecules: Interplay between nanostructure and water vapor transport in block copolymer membranes | Journal of Membrane Science | 2019 | |
| Embedding 1D Conducting Channels into 3D Isoporous Polymer Films for High-Performance Humidity Sensing | Angewandte Chemie - International Edition | 2018 | |
| Fabrication of Polybenzimidazole/Palladium Nanoparticles Hollow Fiber Membranes for Hydrogen Purification | Advanced Energy Materials | 2018 | |
| High dehumidification performance of amorphous cellulose composite membranes prepared from trimethylsilyl cellulose | Journal of Materials Chemistry A | 2018 | |
| CO |
Polymers | 2017 | |
| Polybenzimidazole-based mixed membranes with exceptionally high water vapor permeability and selectivity | Journal of Materials Chemistry A | 2017 | |
| Graphene oxide doped ionic liquid ultrathin composite membranes for efficient CO |
Journal of Materials Chemistry A | 2017 | |
| Pebax??1657/Graphene oxide composite membranes for improved water vapor separation | Journal of Membrane Science | 2017 | |
| Diagnosis of small capacity reverse osmosis unit for desalinated tap water | Desalination and Water Treatment | 2014 |