KAUST researchers highlight the importance of tailoring urban greening initiatives for specific contexts, with a focus on challenges and solutions for the Middle East.

The KAUST team, led by Kyle Lauersen and including environmental scientist Professor Peiying Hong, has innovatively used engineered algae, specifically Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, to treat wastewater and produce valuable co-products.

Professor Pascal Saikaly and postdoc Bin Bian have developed a microbial electrosynthesis process whereby living microbes transform carbon dioxide into useful chemicals in an electrochemical cell via a reduction reaction under applied voltage.

WDRC is finding solutions across all scales to tackle water security challenges by understanding water's fundamental physical and chemical properties, using satellites, solar energy and microorganisms.

The challenge to provide fresh water and protect supply for future generations already requires a huge effort, coordination and management. WDRC is already planning and delivering technological advances on the global, local, micro- and nanoscale to make water usage more sustainable.

Prof. Matthew McCabe, research scientist Kasper Johansen and PhD student Aislinn Dunne from Prof. Burton Jones' group have brought disciplines together to create a detailed picture of water flows between different habitats on the Red Sea coast.

Professor Himanshu Mishra and colleagues developed superhydrophobic sand (called SandX), a bio-inspired material comprising grains of sand or sandy soils coated in a nanoscale layer of paraffin wax.

Prof. Matthew McCabe, research scientist Kasper Johansen and Ph.D. student Aislinn Dunne developed a method using drones and harmless dyes to track and monitor the movement of water between coastal habitats.

Prof. Peng Wang and Dr. Renyuan Li have designed a system that extracts fresh water from the atmosphere using heat generated by photovoltaic panels. The water could be used to irrigate crops in water-scarce regions.

A comprehensive investigation by KAUST researchers sets the record straight on the formation of hydrogen peroxide in micrometre-sized water droplets, or microdroplets, and shows that ozone is the key to this transformation

A collaboration between KAUST's Solar Center and Water Desalination and Reuse Center resulted in developing a high-intensity pulsed light (HIPL) treatment efficient for post-treatment of contaminated water containing organic micropollutants (OMPs).

Prof. Peiying Hong and alumnus Dr. Giantommaso Scarascia develop a method to remove biofilms on membranes in anaerobic reactors by using bacteriophages and UV light.

Dr. Kennedy Odokonyero, a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Himanshu Mishra's group developed a wax-based treatment for jute bags to improve water repellency and reduces loss of stored food grains.

Professor Himanshu Mishra and Ph.D. student Adair Gallo Jr. discover, with the help of high-speed imaging, that liquid–particle and particle-particle interactions critically influence the evaporation behavior of liquid marbles.

Professor Peng Wang and Dr. Wenbin Wang developed a simple cooling system based on solar energy and the cooling effect of saltwater evaporation that could be used for refrigeration in regions with limited access to electricity.

Prof. Pascal Saikaly is pioneering technologies based on microbial electrolysis cells that use microbes to decompose organic matter in wastewater to generate electricity.

Prof. Peng Wang and his Ph.D. student Chenlin Zhang developed a method to treat waste brine from water desalination plants using a self-cleaning crystallizer powered by solar energy.

Prof. Matthew McCabe and Dr. Oliver Lopez, a research specialist, developed the world's first operating system to monitor and model agricultural water use at fine spatial and time scales.

Prof. Peiying Hong monitors wastewater to determine and survey the prevalence of the COVID-19 in populations.

Prof. Hans Vrouwenvelder's group developed a novel membrane cleaning strategy for biofouling control by using a sacrificial multilayer polyelectrolyte coating on the membrane surface, which could be easily removed by using a concentrated sodium chloride solution.