UNIVERSITY NEWS

Qtaishat Registers New Patent at USPTO

 
Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Jordan (UJ), Dr. Mohammad-Rasool Qtaishat has recently registered a new patent at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
 
The new patent is for a novel membrane design that can operate in membrane distillation (MD) - a water purification process - at virtually no temperature gradient or applying pressure gradient.
 
The novel membrane design can be described as super-hydrophobic nano-porous/micro-porous composite membrane; this will significantly decrease the energy requirements of the MD process and it is considered a revolutionary breakthrough in the desalination and water treatment.
 
Furthermore, the membrane, according to Qtaishat, is capable of treating a wide variety of water pollutants, including radioactive waste, heavy metals, phenolic compounds and many others.
 
This invention is part of a series of patented inventions that were registered in 2012 and 2014. The previous three patents are “novel techniques for preparing multi-layer polymeric and mixed matrix membranes and a device for membrane distillation methods “composite membranes for membrane distillation and related of manufacture”; and “composite mixed matrix membranes for membrane distillation and related methods of manufacture”.
 
All the inventions were adopted by the Saudi Membrane Distillation Desalination Co. Ltd. (SMDD).
 
Qtaishat's inventive approach was listed in a STEM magazine report as among the 10 breakthrough technologies that will transform life as we currently know it.
 
Qtaishat earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ottawa in 2009. His PhD dissertation was on the development of a new water desalination membrane technology. His work won the first place in the Ottawa Venture Tech Challenge in 2008. He received his master's and bachelor's degrees in Chemical Engineering from the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST).

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  • 3/28/2018