Dr. Wail Sulaiman Falath is an Assistant Professor at the Materials Science and Engineering Department of King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals. Dr. Falath has a Ph.D. degree in Polymer, Textile, and Fiber Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia. His Ph.D. work was related to the fabrication, modification, and characterization of polymeric mixed matrix membranes for Reverse Osmosis water desalination. His research is focused on the environment and the synthesis of membranes for water desalination as well as surface modifications and characterization. Furthermore, he conducted research in various areas related to water treatment and environmental impact assessment. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Materials Science and Engineering and Mechanical Engineering disciplines. Dr. Falath is currently the Dean of Student Affairs.

Educational Qualification

• Ph.D. Polymer, Textile and Fiber Engineering), Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, 2016
• M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 2010
• B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 2007

Courses Taught:

• ME216   : Materials Science and Engineering
• ME217   : Materials Lab
• ME480   : Plastics Materials and Processing
• ME578   : Mechanical Properties of Engineering Polymers
• MSE302 : Polymeric Materials

Research Interest

Dr. Falath ’s research is focused on the environment and the synthesis of membranes for water desalination as well as surface modifications and characterization. Furthermore, he conducted research in various areas related to water treatment and environmental impact assessment. He has been a principal Investigator and member in several funded external and internal projects carried out at KFUPM. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in materials science and engineering and Mechanical Engineering disciplines. Dr. Falath is currently the Dean of Student Affairs.

Representative Publications

Synthesis and Modification of membranes for desalination and water treatment

• Falath, Wail, Aneela Sabir, and Karl I. Jacob. "Highly improved reverse osmosis performance of novel PVA/DGEBA cross-linked membranes by incorporation of Pluronic F-127 and MWCNTs for water desalination" Desalination 397 (2016): 53-66.
• Falath, Wail, Aneela Sabir, and Karl I. Jacob. "Novel reverse osmosis membranes composed of modified PVA/Gum Arabic conjugates: Biofouling mitigation and chlorine resistance enhancement." Carbohydrate Polymers 155 (2017): 28-39.
• Falath, Wail. “Novel stand-alone PVA mixed matrix membranes conjugated with graphene oxide for highly improved reverse osmosis performance” Arabian Journal of Chemistry 14 (5), 103109
• A Matin, T Laoui, W Falath, M Farooque. “Fouling control in reverse osmosis for water desalination & reuse: Current practices & emerging environment-friendly technologies” Science of the Total Environment 765, 142721
• AQ Al-Gamal, W Falath, TA Saleh. “Enhanced efficiency of polyamide membranes by incorporating TiO2-Graphene oxide for water purification” Journal of Molecular Liquids 323, 114922

Novel approaches for contaminants removal

• M Sajid, M Kabeer, W Falath “Development of Membrane-Based Inverted Liquid-Liquid Extraction for the Simultaneous Extraction of Eight Metals in Seawater before ICP-OES Analysis” Molecules 25 (15), 3395
• Umair Baig, MA Gondal, MA Ansari, MA Dastageer, M Sajid, WS Falath. “Rapid synthesis and characterization of advanced ceramic-polymeric nanocomposites for efficient photocatalytic decontamination of a hazardous organic pollutant under visible light and inhibition of microbial biofilm” Ceramics International 47 (4), 4737-4748

Patents

• WS Falath, DU Lawal. “Bubble feed membrane distillation system” US Patent App. 16/799,352, 2021