10:00 am – 10:10 am

Introduction of Webinar Speakers

IDA Moderator Mr. Miguel Angel SANZ, Director of Strategic Development, SUEZ International

10:10 am – 10:15 am

Welcome Address and Webinar Topic Highlights

By Eng. Nikolay Voutchkov – Senior Expert of the Desalination Technology Research Institute of SWCC (Moderator)

Bio: Mr. Voutchkov has over 36 years of experience in the field of desalination and water reuse, as an independent technical advisor to public utilities implementing large desalination projects, and companies and investors involved in the development of advanced membrane technologies. Currently, he works as a senior expert with the Desalination Technology Research Institute of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation.  Mr. Voutchkov is a Board Certified Environmental Engineer by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and have published over 10 books in the field of desalination and water reuse.

10:15 am – 10:30 am

Speaker: Professor Eric Hoek – University of California Los Angeles

Overview of Membrane Technology Advancements

Bio: Dr. Eric Hoek is a professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a faculty scientist in the Energy Storage & Distributed Resources Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and also a faculty member of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment & Sustainability and California NanoSystems Institute. He is also the Faculty Director of the UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, Deputy Topic Area Leader for Process Innovation & Intensification in the US DOE funded National Alliance for Water Innovation, and Editor-in-Chief of npj Clean Water. Dr. Hoek’s research explores the union of membrane technologies, nanomaterials and electrochemistry for water, energy and environmental applications. He has published over 120 peer-reviewed journal articles, two books on Sustainable Desalination and Water Reuse and Oil & Gas Produced Water Management and is co-Editor-in-Chief of The Encyclopedia of Membrane Science and Technology. Dr Hoek has also co-founded several technology companies and advises a number of private companies, government agencies, non-profits and investment funds.

10:30 am – 10:45 am

Speaker: Professor Sangho Lee – School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Kookmin University, Korea

Membrane Distillation for Brine Reduction: Lessons Learned from Pilot Studies

Bio: Sangho Lee is a chemical and environmental engineer with a PhD from Seoul National University in Korea. He has been working on advanced water treatment and management since 1999 when he joined Northwestern University in United States. From 2003 to 2011, he was a senior researcher in Korea Institute of Construction Technology (KICT), Korea. He is currently a professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering in Kookmin University, Korea.

His current interests are in smart technologies applied to environmental applications and urban water management, with a focus on smart water grid, seawater desalination, and environmental process simulation. He has devoted to practical implementation of emerging desalination technologies, including membrane distillation (MD), forward osmosis (FO), and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO). Since 2018, he has been leading a research group, “DREAMS”, focusing on the development of engineering technology for novel desalination ships, which is funded by Korean government. He is also on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Environmental Engineering Research, and Water Supply.

10:45 am – 11:00 am

Speaker: Eng. John Tracy – Vice President – Fluid Technology Solutions, Inc.

Innovation in Brine Concentration Technology

Bio: John Tracy is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the advanced membrane technologies company Fluid Technology Solutions Inc. (FTS H2O) and has over 25 years of practical experience in the Water, Power, Chemicals, and Electronics industries in global markets. He led the sales and marketing efforts of Oasys Water, was the Plasma Systems Product Line Manager with semiconductor equipment company Axcelis Technologies, and held engineering and management positions with ABB, Osmonics, Betz Labs, and General Chemical. John earned his B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University and M.B.A. from Northeastern University.

11:00 am – 11:15 am

Speaker: Dr. Byungsung Park – Desalination Technology Research Institute/SWCC

Optimizing Performance of Granular Media Filters

Bio: Dr. Byungsung Park is working at Water Technologies Research Institute as senior desalination expert of pretreatment systems in SWRO desalination plant.

He worked at DOOSAN Water Research & Development Center, Al Khobar as Director General for 3 years and worked in DOOSAN Heavy Industries and Construction, Korea as senior researcher for 11 years.

He specialized in the designs of Dissolved Air Flotation and Dual Media Filter. He designed DAF system with 50m/h of hydraulic loading rate on Doha East SWRO plant (Kuwait).

He is focusing on the operation and maintenance improvements of SWRO plants to increase water production and cost savings.

11:15 am – 11:30 noon

Speaker: Eng. Abdulrahman Abutaleb – Desalination Technology Research Institute/SWCC

Novel Clean-In-Place System for Cartridge Filters

Bio: Engineer Abutaleb is a Researcher in SWRO department at Desalination Technologies Research Institute (DTRI) of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) closely involved in the development and implementation of innovative technologies for improvement of pretreatment and SWRO desalination plant operations.  Eng. Abutaleb has M.Sc. Degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Dayton, Ohio, USA.

11:30 – 12:15

Questions and Discussions

Eng. Nikolay Voutchkov & Eng. Miguel Angel Sanz (Moderators)