Amr Omar has completed his PhD at the University of New South Wales, where he focused on developing solar thermal systems and combining them with desalination processes to alleviate water scarcity in rural-arid regions. During his postdoc in chemical engineering at UNSW, he has worked on multiple industry-funded projects, such as the development of flocculant strength instrument for water catchment monitoring and ultrafine bubble assessment...view more
Amr Omar has completed his PhD at the University of New South Wales, where he focused on developing solar thermal systems and combining them with desalination processes to alleviate water scarcity in rural-arid regions. During his postdoc in chemical engineering at UNSW, he has worked on multiple industry-funded projects, such as the development of flocculant strength instrument for water catchment monitoring and ultrafine bubble assessment for turf growth.
Amr Omar is the winner of the prestigious 2022 Malcolm Chaikin Prize for Research Excellence in Engineering of the Year and was nominated for the Asian Union of thermal Science and Engineering Young Scientist. He was also awarded first place in the Three Minutes Thesis (3MT) 2020 competition from the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. Due to his research contributions, he was awarded the "research student award" by the UNSW Postgraduate Council.
Overall, Amr's main goal is to provide a more clean, more efficient, and cost-effective integration of solar energy to decarbonize processes, particularly water processes.
My Grants
- 100K AUD research grant from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment for the development of an evaporative cooling roadmap.
- 20K AUD for the development of a hollow fiber vacuum membrane distillation module with CSIRO Energy (2020-2021).
My Awards
- Nominated for Research Excellence Award (Early Career Academic) category for UNSW's Faculty of Engineering Excellence Awards 2023.
- Awarded the Prestigious Malcolm Chaikin Prize for Research Excellence in Engineering, 2022.
- Asian Union of Thermal Science and Engineering Young Scientist Award Nominee, 2022.
- Research student award from UNSW's postgraduate council, University of New South Wales, 2020.
- First place in the three-minute thesis (3MT) in the school of mechanical and manufacturing engineering, University of New South Wales, 2020.
- Australian postgraduate award full scholarship, University of New South Wales, 2017.
- Engineering top-up award, University of New South Wales, 2017.
- Runner up to the best postgraduate thesis in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Sydney, 2017.
- Research assistantship position, American University of Sharjah, 2014.
- Merit and Dean's List Awardee, American University of Sharjah, 2010 - 2014.
My Research Activities
Amr Omar has focused on decarbonizing water processes using solar technology and translate innovative technologies from lab-scale to real world application. His research focuses on mimicking the solar-driven, natural water cycle, in a controlled environment using either novel membrane distillation technology (for small-scale applications) or the more developed multi-effect distillation process (for large-scale applications). He has also explored seawater desalination through conventional means, such as seawater reverse osmosis or low-temperature multi-effect distillation, to produce sufficient water to run and actively cool down electrolyzers for efficient hydrogen production. Furthermore, he has studied the flocculant strength in the pre-treatment process for water filtration plants and has been studying the potential of nanobubble technologies in agricultural irrigation equipment.
Accordingly, Amr's research aims to bridge the forgoing gaps in water treatment processes and run them sustainable using renewable energy sources to straddle two pressing Sustainable Development Goals set out by the United Nations, SDG6 for 'clean water' and SDG7 for 'affordable and clean energy'.
My Research Supervision
Currently supervising
- Triple Bottom Line Assessment for Inland Green Hydrogen Developments (PhD Project)
- Development of the Solar-driven Membrane Distillation for Seawater Desalination (PhD Project)
- An Improved Nanofluid-based Hybrid Photovoltaic/Thermal System (Master by Research)
- Sun to H2O - Vertically Integrated Project (VIP)
- Site Feasibility Study for a Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Plant Coupled with Desalination (Thesis Project)
- Solar Still Feasibility for Nighttime Operation (Thesis Project)
My Engagement
- Reviewer for multiple Q1 journals including Nature
- Keynote speaker at NSW field day presenting the potential of micro/nanobubbles for future irrigation systems
- Review panel member for various conferences
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9265-8464