Prof. Dr. Andrea Iris Schäfer will give the next EMS webinar scheduled for November 18 at 1 pm CET on the EMS Youtube Channel.

Webinar Title: Membranes in water: The long and bumpy road to safe water for all children…

Biography:

Andrea Schäfer is Professor of Water Process Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering and (founding) Director of the Institute for Advanced Membrane Technology (IAMT) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Previously she was Professor at the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology in Tanzania, East Africa. 2006 to 2013 she was the Chair of Environmental Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK following 3 years as a senior lecturer at the University of Wollongong, Australia and 3 years as postdoc & lecturer at the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia. She holds four engineering degrees from three countries (Germany, France (2) & Australia) including a PhD from the UNESCO Center for Membrane Science and Technology at the University of New South Wales in Chemical engineering and has worked in many countries.

Passionate about membrane process engineering she has experience with several membrane processes encompassing predominantly water treatment, desalination, water recycling, remote water supplies and international development. Her work spans from fundamental research, nanomembrane materials through to commercialisation projects, from water chemistry and engineering to socio-economic issues relevant to water.

Prof Schäfer has published extensively in high impact journals and authored or edited several books, including ‘Nanofiltration: Principles, Applications and New Materials’. She collaborates extensively with colleagues in many leading academic institutions worldwide and works towards her long-term vision ‘I have a dream: safe water for all children’.

Abstract:

When I was 8 years old, I met Heiner Strathmann, about 10 years later someone showed me how to make tubular membranes and the osmotic cherry in Robert Rautenbach’s book finally hooked me on membranes. Another 5 years later, I fell in love with membrane research in New Zealand and since then it has been membrane research. Euromembrane 1995 in Bath was my introduction to the membrane family, where I have been feeling really at home.

A PhD with Tony Fane at the UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science & Technology in Sydney, ‘Natural Organics Removal using Membranes’ resulted in two books, one of them on nanofiltration. A postdoc on water reuse – micropollutant removal – built on the nanofiltration application. Chair Professor in Edinburgh 5 years from PhD triggered the question ‘what now’ and I remembered a promise made while hitching on the back of a truck in Zimbabwe as an engineering student ‘come back and help us one day’. The vision ‘I have a dream: safe water for all children’ was born. The fact that existing membranes are perfect to save 1000 lives of kids per day presets in incredible drive and our inability to just achieve this fast, a great source of frustration.

What can a membrane academic contribute to this vision? The contaminants responsible for mortality are viruses and bacteria. These can be removed with ultrafiltration, which is a good technology for surface water treatment if no contaminants are to be removed. This needs implementation and the only hindrance to do this is political will. An important scientific contribution an academic can make in this area is to make the argument that this makes sense, support the implementation with robust systems, assist in solving ongoing problems and appropriate operation and maintenance approaches.

More challenging is treatment where dissolved contaminants need to be removed. Processes like nanofiltration, electrodialysis and reactive membranes target dissolved inorganic contaminants such as arsenic, fluoride, uranium, nitrate – and many others, or organic micropollutants from steroid hormones. Such treatment will not save lives directly, but it will make water sources – capped boreholes, or wastewater available for consumption. Being able to do so, independent from infrastructure, and operate decentralized systems will diversity reliance on large infrastructures and increase resilience. The knowledge gap to make such advanced technology work in remote and harsh environments is greater and requires highly skilled engineers with a desire for adventure.

The seminar will show some highlights of where commercial membranes can solve global challenges and encourage that we refocus on membrane engineering for impact.