Alumnus selected for Excellence Award for Chemical Engineering

The award was made for Christian’s DPhil work in the Department of Engineering Science, establishing Osmotic-Assisted Reverse Osmosis (OARO) as a superior alternative to conventional reverse osmosis for sustainable, low-energy desalination.

The EFCE Award is sponsored by Evonik Operations GmbH and will be made at the 13th International Conference on Distillation and Absorption in Salzburg, Austria, on September 1st 2026. The quadrennial award recognises a PhD thesis of a researcher or engineer which demonstrates an outstanding contribution to research and/or practice in fluid separations, published in the last 4 years and in one of the 30 eligible member countries.

Novel, low-energy processes for sustainable desalination are urgently needed, and in particular those which promote brine volume minimisation (BVM) and zero-liquid discharge (ZLD). To address these issues, the principal focus of Chris’ thesis was to establish the superior performance of Osmotic-Assisted Reverse Osmosis (OARO) for high-recovery, low energy membrane desalination. The two main research objectives were to numerically quantify the economic and environmental benefit of OARO, and to experimentally investigate the performance and limitations of OARO. For both low and high feed salinities, integrated OARO configurations were shown to be superior to classic RO.

Chris says, “I’m honoured to have been nominated and now named runner-up for this prestigious award. It is encouraging to see my DPhil research on membrane processes recognised, highlighting the potential to produce more affordable water and help address one of the world's most pressing resource challenges”.

Chris carried out his work in the Laboratory of Sustainable Water Engineering, under the supervision of Professor Nick Hankins. At the time of the award, Christian holds the positions of Academic Visitor in the Laboratory for Sustainable Water Engineering and the CEO & Co-Founder of Seloxium Limited, a University of Oxford spin-out focusing on the selective recovery of valuable metals from industrial effluents.