Atmospheric Water Harvesting Development and Challenges

Prof Elvis Fosso-Kankeu has a doctorate degree from the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Mining Engineering at the University of South Africa. His research focuses on the hydrometallurgical extraction of metal from solid phases, prediction of pollutants dispersion from industrial areas, and on the development of effective and sustainable methods for the removal of inorganic and organic pollutants from polluted water. He has published more than 220 papers including journal articles, books, book chapters and conference proceeding papers. He has won several research awards including the NSTF Award (National Science and Technology Forum: largest science, engineering, technology and innovation awards in South Africa and are known as the “Science Oscars” of recent times) Engineering Research Capacity Development, in 2019. Moreover, Prof. Fosso-Kankeu has a H-Index of 25 on Research Gate with 2512, an H-index of 27 and more than 2800 citations on Google Scholar.

Professor Bhekie Mamba is the executive dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa since January 2017. He previously served as the director of the Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability (NanoWS) research unit at the University of South Africa.  Prof Mamba is a visionary and astounding leader and has occupied a number of leadership positions including being a Professor and Head at Department of Applied Chemistry at the University of Johannesburg, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Johannesburg, Director of the DST/Mintek Nanotechnology Innovation Centre – Water Research Node and the Director of the Institute of Nanotechnology and Water Research at the University of Johannesburg. Prof Mamba has published about 7 book chapters, over 250 journal papers, about 12 technical reports, and over 50 conference proceedings. He has supervised to completion over 60 Masters and doctoral students who are now either employed or running businesses in SA and other countries in Southern Africa. Besides his established international collaborative research network with other esteemed universities locally and abroad, Prof Mamba has presented his research work in several local and international conferences. He has reviewed journal articles for at least 20 international journals and has been an external examiner of MSc dissertations and PhD theses from various universities including Wits University, Tshwane University of Technology, University of the Free State, Royal Institute of Science and Technology (Sweden) (Main External Examiner), Rhodes University, University of Western Cape, University of Botswana and University of Stellenbosch. He has vast experience in the area of nanotechnology, polymer chemistry and water treatment technologies. His passion is towards creating sustainable solutions that would ensure that the water resources are maintained and preserved for future generations.

His general research interest involves developing advanced technologies for water treatment, which include nanotechnology and membrane technology. The main interest is the removal of organic micro pollutants in water and improving the efficiency of conventional technologies in dealing with new emerging pollutants through integrating existing technologies with nanotechnology.

Dr Hemant Mittal is currently working as a Research Scientist in the Chemical Engineering Department, Khalifa University of Science & Technology (KU), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He received his PhD degree from Dr B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT)-Jalandhar India in 2013. Dr Mittal is listed in the Stanford University’s list of World’s top 2% scientists consecutively three times for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021. His research work focuses on the development of bio-polymers based advanced hydrogels and their nano-structured materialsfor different industrial applications such as wastewater treatment, atmospheric water harvesting, carbon capture and sea water desalination. He has published over 75 research articles in this field which have been well cited as evident from his h-index of 40.

Dr. Ali Al-Alili is currently working as Vice President of Research & Development at Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA), UAE. He is in charge of overseeing the entire research program, infrastructure, budgeting and procurement. Prior to joining DEWA, Dr Al-Alili was an Associate Professor at Khalifa University, UAE. Dr Al-Alili received his BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Arizona State University, USA. Then, he joined a combined M.Sc./Ph.D. program at the University of Maryland, USA, where he received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering.