Mostafa Elsharqawy

Headshot of Mostafa Elsharqawy
Associate Professor
School of Engineering
Email: 
melsharq@uoguelph.ca
Phone number: 
(519) 824-4120 ext. 58973
Office: 
RICH 3513
Website links: 
Personal Website
Google Scholar
Research Gate
LinkedIn
Seeking academic or industry partnerships in the area(s) of: 
Energy recovery devices, Water desalination, Geothermal systems, Refrigeration and defrost systems, Osmotic power
Available positions for grads/undergrads/postdoctoral fellows: 
Please see Elsharqawy’s website for details.

Find Related People by Keyword

Fluid Mechanics, Geothermal Energy, Heat and Mass Exchangers, Heat and Mass Transfer, Mechanical Engineering, Refrigeration Systems, Salinity Gradient Energy, Seawater Desalination, Sustainable Energy Systems, Thermodynamics, Waste Energy Recovery, Water Thermophysical Properties

Instrumentation

Low temperature walk-in freezer and refrigerator, open and closed-loop wind tunnels, heat exchangers test rig, constant temperature water bath, Infrared thermometers and cameras, osmotic membrane test cells. 

Capabilities

Walk-in freezers and refrigerators performance testing according to ASHARE standards, heat exchanger and energy recovery devices thermal performance tests, aerodynamic and hydraulic characteristics in wind tunnels, osmotic membrane characteristics tests, Thermal radiation and heat losses measurements, thermocouples and RTD calibrationss, and CFD simulations.

Education and Employment Background

Dr. Mostafa Elsharqawy received his PhD from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in 2008. Following that, he held a position as a postdoctoral associate in the mechanical engineering department center of clean water and clean energy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Between 2010 and 2014 he was an Assistant Professor at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He then held a one-year position as a Research Associate at the University of Toronto. He joined the School of Engineering at the University of Guelph in 2015 where he is now an Associate Professor.

Research Themes

Elsharqawy’s research focuses on thermofluids science with a particular interest in sustainable energy and water technologies. His research encompasses seawater desalination, solar and geothermal energy, osmotic power, and energy recovery devices. He uses experimental and numerical research tools. Key areas of focus include:

  1. Water. Elsharqawy and his group are investigating technologies for saline water desalination systems, suitable for decentralized small-scale water production for arid and off-grid areas as well as for agriculture and food processing applications. Humidification and dehumidification desalination (HDH) is one of these technologies, which has been patented and commercialized in the water industry. Other water-related research activities cover pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), nanofiltration (NF), hybrid cycles, and thermophysical properties of saline waters.
  2. Osmotic Power. Osmotic energy is the energy available from mixing two aqueous solutions of different salinities. The chemical potential difference between sea water and river water is equivalent to 270 m of hydraulic head. When two solutions of different salinities (e.g. fresh water and seawater) are separated by a membrane that allows only water to pass through it, water from the low salinity side will flow to the high salinity side. This flow will continue until the salinities on both sides of the membrane are equalized or the pressure on the saline water side is high enough to stop further flow. Elsharqawy investigates different technologies, including pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), to harvest this energy at river mouths.
  3. Geothermal. In cold weather, open and closed loop geothermal heat exchangers (GHE) facilitate the ground as a heat source to absorb heat which increases the coefficient of performance (COP) of the heat pump cycle. Experimental and computational models are developed to assess the performance of GHE at different locations with or without groundwater effect.
  4. Pore Network Modeling. Pore network modeling (PNM) is a simulation method for studying transport in porous media. With the help of micro computed tomography (CT) images, PNM could predict the macroscopic petrophysical and transport properties of the porous media and can accurately describe microscopic flow mechanisms, which include multi-phase flow, wettability, capillary trapping, dissolution, diffusion and convection at the pore scale. Elsharqawy’s research group is using PNM to simulate CO2 injection in underground geologic reservoirs for carbon sequestration as well as to simulate the flow of water in different kind of membranes.  

Highlights 

  • Research Excellence Award, University of Guelph 2019
  • Global Affairs Canada Faculty Mobility Program, 2019
  • NSERC Discovery Grant, 2018
  • OMAFRA Tier 1 Product Development Grant 2018
  • Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Ontario Resource Field Program Grant 2018
  • Editorial board member for Journal of Advanced Thermal Science Research, 2017-present
  • Editor for special issue of Entropy, “Entropy and Thermodynamics in Desalination Systems,” 2018

Media Coverage

Osmotic Power

Safe Drinking Water

Awards