MSc. Water and Environmental Engineering, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE
BSc. Civil Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE
E-mail: rashasaffarini88@gmail.com
Rasha Saffarini is a Masdar Institute Alumina. During her study years at Masdar, she worked in Prof. Arafat ‘s group. Her research project was in collaboration with the MIT’s Mechanical Engineering Department. Her research focused on the enhancement and development of solar powered membrane distillation desalination. These processes have great potential for sustainably producing drinking water. Rasha was also particularly interested in micro-porous structural evolution of PTFE membranes used in the membrane distillation process, and her research explored the relationships between membrane structure and its performance, in terms of wetting. Her broader motivation in research is to increase access to drinking water in areas of scarce water resources.
Currently, Rasha is working as an environmental consultant with Ramboll Middle East and has been involved in several multi disciplinary water and environmental projector in the region.
In her free time, Rasha likes to play basketball, travel and do volunteer work.
Publications
R. B. Saffarini, E. K. Summers, H. A. Arafat, J. H. Lienhard, Technical Evaluation of Stand-Alone Solar Powered Membrane Distillation Systems, Desalination, 286, pp. 332-341 (2012)
R. B. Saffarini, E. K. Summers, H. A. Arafat, J. H. Lienhard, Economic Evaluation of Stand-Alone Solar Powered Membrane Distillation Systems, Desalination 299, 55–62 (2012)
R.B. Saffarini, B. Mansoor, R. Thomas, H. A. Arafat, Effect of temperature-dependent microstructure evolution on pore wetting in PTFE membranes under membrane distillation conditions, J. Membrane Science, 429, 282-294 (2013)
Rasha B. Saffarini, Bilal Mansoor, Rinku Thomas, H. A. Arafat, Effect of temperature-dependent microstructure evolution on pore wetting in PTFE membranes under membrane distillation conditions, Proceedings of the International Scientific conference on Pervaporation, Vapor Permeation and Membrane Distillation, Torun, Poland, May 12-15, 2013
R. B. Saffarini, B. Mansoor, R. Thomas, H. A. Arafat, Effect of temperature-driven changes on pore wetting behavior of PTFE membranes under membrane distillation conditions, Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Desalination using Membrane Technology, Sitges, Spain, 7-10 April 2013
R. Saffarini, H. A. Arafat, R. Thomas, Influence of Pore Structure on Membrane Wettability in Membrane Distillation, Proceedings of the 6th Jordan International Chemical Engineering Conference, Amman-Jordan, pp 303-307, March 12-14, 2012
R. B. Saffarini, E. K. Summers, H. A. Arafat, J. H. Lienhard, Assessment of Solar Powered Membrane Distillation Desalination Systems, Proceedings of the International Workshop on Membrane Distillation and Related Technologies, Ravello, Italy, October 9 ‐ 12, 2011, pp. 72-75 (2011)
Mortula, M., Jijakli, K., Irfan, M., and Saffarini, R. “Limiting Heavy Metals and Phosphorus Leachability from Sewage Sludge.” Conference in Engineering Research, Innovation and Education, Sylhet, Bangladesh, January 13-14, 2010.
Al-Shehhi, M.R., Saffarini, R. ; Farhat, A. ; Al-Meqbali, N.K. ; Ghedira, H. Evaluating the effect of soil moisture, surface temperature, and humidity variations on MODIS-derived NDVI values. Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2011 IEEE International P. 3160 – 3163, Vancouver, BC.