Water Desalination Consultant Specializing in Seawater, Industrial Wastewater and Brackish Water: Purification using Membrane Technology Applications

Expertise

• Over 38 years of technical expertise and field experience in membrane technology and water desalination, treatment and purification industry with hands-on involvement in over 50 large and strategic RO and UF (Reverse Osmosis and Ultrafiltration), plants worldwide.
• Water Desalination: Innovative developer in the areas of applying and managing seawater, brackish water desalination and industrial wastewater water purification using membrane technology processes of reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF) and ultrafiltration (UF), including extensive analysis and full accountability for non-revenue water (NRW) losses impacting the financial health of the producing entity.
• Membrane Technologies: Membrane system design, engineering management, factory and site testing, plant startups and commissioning, plant operation and performance monitoring, evaluation, optimization and trouble-shooting.
• Expert Consultancy Services: Water desalination and brine management feasibility studies, industry and market analyses, evaluation and planning options.
• Expert Software Innovation, development, optimization and licensing the SMART SilentAlarm™ technology and software systems) for real-time system Monitoring and analytics as part of water utility and plants digital transformation in order to optimize operational efficiency, performance and cost-effectiveness of their water plants. The SilentAlarm™ is the world's only early detection and real- time technology for monitoring and measurement of membrane fouling and scaling.
• Environmental Assessments and Regulatory Compliance: Providing technical consultancy in designing and supporting regulatory and environmental permitting of a new seawater desalination project in California, and participating as a team member in the effort to draft the first-ever Seawater Desalination Code, under the auspices of the Saudi Arabian Electricity and Co-Generation Regulatory Authority.
• Technical and Cost Feasibility Studies: RO/UF membrane desalination plant design, operation, cost effectiveness and risk assessment evaluations and recommendations, including commercial potential projections and assessment.
• New Technology and Product Evaluations: Patent review and research, test protocol and pilot plant design, setup, trial monitoring and evaluation of existing and new, innovative water desalination technologies, processes and products.
• Project Engineering: Experienced in fast-track technical and business development project management, RO/UF process and engineering design review applying international standards and best industry practice, performing and verifying engineering calculations and mass balances, reviewing P&IDs, equipment and material selection, quality control, and monitoring plant construction progress and commissioning activities, attending Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs), and supervising Site Acceptance Tests (SATs).
• Worked on several high-profile projects for prominent international and multi- national companies and clients including Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP) developers, regional governmental and private water and electricity utility authorities and organizations and global technology research conglomerates.
• Technical Evaluations and Testing: Business and market development and commercialization of new and innovative products, systems, processes and technologies involving RO and UF membrane and innovative, unconventional desalination and pretreatment technologies worldwide.
• Business Development: Establishing and conducting business in the Middle East/Arabian Gulf markets with a wide and extensive network of key government and private sector decision makers contacts.
• Training: Conducting advanced, specialized and practical technology training, as well as designing and supervising comprehensive and long-term training programs for water desalination plant's engineers, supervisors and operators, as well as industry professionals of various backgrounds, needs and levels of experience.

Experience

MSRT, Founder and President, 1996 - Present

Chief Consultant and Trainer 

• Technical subject-matter consulting in the areas of membrane technology applications for drinking/potable desalination and industrial water treatment and purification, including RO, UF, and other membrane processes.
• RO/UF membrane desalination plant current operation, performance status and history and cost effectiveness evaluations and optimization recommendations, including commercial and legal claim verification and assessment.
• Worldwide project and proposal development, system specification and process design reviews and optimization, plant start-up assistance, monitoring, evaluation, optimization and trouble-shooting of membrane system operations and maintenance.
• Designing and conducting advanced membrane desalination technology short courses and workshops for standard plant operations, fouling identification and management and plant performance monitoring, trouble-shooting optimization and upgrade.
• Consulting, design and production of world-class and customized plant operating manuals and computer-based training in association with international partner company.
• Trained over 700 professionals in conjunction with IDA Biannual Congresses on desalination and water re-use, European Desalination Society's (EDS), Annual EuroMed and Desalination and the Environment Conferences, Annual Saudi Water and Power Forum, and International Research - Middle East (IIRME) Water and Wastewater Conference.
• Conducted specialized organization and public training courses for Dubai Electricity and Water Authority - DEWA, Water and Power Company of Jubail and Yanbu - MARAFIQ, Saudi ARAMCO, Middle East Desalination Research Center,(MEDRC), Oman, and the Ministry of Electricity and Water, Bahrain.

Recent Projects:  Middle East – Arabian Gulf and USA

• Conducted RO/UF on-site and analytical evaluations, trouble-shooting and upgrades of dozens of seawater and brackish water desalination plants, especially in the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman Regions.
• Conducted a, long-term consulting contract with a major international water desalination and power generation project developer (IWPP) for monitoring, optimization and trouble-shooting one of the largest and most strategic SWRO plants in the world.
• Technical and market consultancy for an international management consulting firm acting on behalf of a Middle East client on a mammoth greenfield project involving state-of-the-art desalination, brine disposal and energy recovery.
• Served on technical panel as a consultant for an international management consulting firm acting on behalf of the largest producer of desalinated water in the world on privatization issues of the entire organization in the Middle East.
• Technical consultancy and advisership on behalf of an international group of insurers to evaluate, validate and settle several substantial operational and performance claims by the private developer and operator of one of the largest SWRO desalination plants in the world.
• Two-year technical subject-matter desalination consultancy for an international management consulting firm acting on behalf of Saudi NEOM on a greenfield development project involving state-of-the-art desalination, brine disposal, zero liquid discharge (ZLD) and other treatment options, and energy recovery technologies.
• Technical consultancy for an international management consulting firm acting on behalf of Bahrain’s Electricity and Water Authority on its utility transformation program. This included analysis of the utility’s plant availabilities, recovery rates, forced outages, reference energy efficiency and other factors contributing to non-revenue water losses, all impacting paid tariff structure and deductions.
• On-going subject-matter consultancy on desalination for a US team of academic researchers and industry collaborators working on an innovative project to restore alkalinity to the oceans while extracting excess CO2 from the atmosphere to mitigate the impact of climate change and producing commercial products.
• Technical, environmental and regulatory consultation for a California client to develop an efficient and permitted SWRO plant under very strict environmental and regulatory conditions.
• Ongoing consultation for a U.S. client to patent, test and develop commercial applications and markets for an innovative seawater desalination technology, process and device with extremely competitive energy efficiency and pretreatment requirements than current thermal and membrane desalination processes.
• Optimization and trouble-shooting of 160,000 cubic meters a day, Al-Buraidah Brackish RO Desalination Plant for the Ministry of Water and Electricity, Al-Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia.
• Optimization and trouble-shooting of Al Jubail 91,000 cubic meters a day, Seawater RO Desalination Plant for the Saline Water Conversion Corp. (SWCC), Saudi Arabia.
• Evaluating, optimizing and upgrading the six 206,000 cubic meters a day, Riyadh RO Brackish Plants in Saudi Arabia for the Riyadh Water and Sewage Authority.

ACWA Power International, Bowarege and NOMAC,  2018 - 2012

• A joint venture with project companies, Riyadh, Jeddah, KSA and Barka, Oman. Filling positions as Sr. Manager, Desalination and Training; Operations Manager; Director of Engineering and Commissioning .                                                         
• Establishment of the first certified water desalination and power generation polytechnical institute for high-school graduates in Saudi Arabia and GCC countries.
• Establishment of the company’s first in-house fresh engineers’ classroom and field training program and location at plant sites.
• Trouble-shooting, optimization and upgrade of the world's first and largest mobile desalination barges resulting in restoring plant performance and availability from under 20% to over 90%, and transforming the independent project company into sustainable, profitability from the verge of bankruptcy in less than 2 years.
• Consultancy, engineering oversight, construction, testing and commissioning leadership of a new seawater UF/RO plant from project conception, development to construction to performance testing (factory and site) and commercial operation startup in record 16 months.

Biosphere 2^®, Project-Decision Investments, Oracle, AZ, Director of Technical Marketing, 1993 - 1996

• Market development and optimization of environmental technologies and products; air and water purification and management of commercial testing and healthcare laboratory information.
• Monitoring, upgrading, optimizing and trouble-shooting of Biosphere's water treatment and CO² abatement system.
• Designing and implementing environmental waste management compliance programs.

Aqua-Chem, Inc. Milwaukee, WI, Development Manager, Membranes, 1991 - 1993

• Development and marketing of RO membrane process technology in a new strategic business direction for the company.
• Integrated established technologies to maximize the company's technical and commercial competitive position in the RO membrane industry.
• Led the effort to establish the technical viability and cost effectiveness of membrane technologies in Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) applications at power, chemical and other industrial plants.

DuPont Co, Permasep® Products, Senior Technical Marketing Specialist, 1983 - 1990

• Provided technical and marketing leadership utilizing DuPont's hollow fine-fiber membrane technology in water desalination and industrial treatment systems on sites in the U.S., Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
• Provided detailed process design reviews, plant startup assistance and performance monitoring, evaluating RO systems, employing polyamide HFF membranes in the Middle East and Europe which represented 70% of DuPont's RO membrane business worldwide, including the first large and commercial SWRO plant in the world in Malta and the first SWRO and brackish plants in Saudi Arabia.
• Spearheaded the technology marketing effort to establish new markets in highly competitive and challenging environments utilizing strategic business partnerships with international licensees, consultants and end users.
• Established and supported marketing strategies to maintain DuPont’s leading market presence and continually increase market share through a diverse network of international licensees, especially in the Middle East, Indian Sub-continent, Mediterranean and Europe. 

Honors & Publications

Languages

• Excellent bilingual and multi-national communications and negotiation skills.
• Large network of industry and decision-making contacts in the Middle-East, Asia, Europe and U.S.A.
• Arabic speaker with fluency in 7 regional Arabic dialects and near native speaker and writer of American English. 7 years of professional Arabic and English technical translations, interpretations and technical document and on-site training..

Academic and Professional Affiliations

• International Desalination Association (IDA) - Member of the Education Committee.
• European Desalination Society (EDS).
• Water Resources Center - University of Arizona, USA.
• Water and Energy Sustainability Center (WEST) and member of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies’ Panel on Science and Diplomacy - University of Arizona, USA.
• Middle East Desalination Research Center (MDRC).
• Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF)
• Arab Water World Magazine (AWW) - Member of the Editorial Consultants Board Magazine (AWW)

Publications

• Authored over 25 technical and business publications at major international industry forums and conferences.

Education

• Sc. Chemical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
• S. Chemical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
• S. Chemistry, American University in Cairo, Egypt