Muluwork Maru comes up with the idea of Scenedesmus-based water desalination approach to remove salt through the natural photosynthetic process powered by sunlight. This technology is expected to deliver low-cost desalted water. Along the way, she dives into showing recovered algal biomass use and its benefit as an excellent feedstock for biodiesel production. Thus Muluwork combined desalination with biomass reuse for biodiesel production as a solution to desalinate Sea water and brackish water. She highlighted the method as the viable option for providing a sustainable water supply to fresh water-stressed regions around the world.

Muluwork conducted her study on a saline rift valley lake (Lake Beseka, Ethiopia).

The findings of Muluwork’s study indicated that native Scenedesmus sp. isolated from this saline lake Beseka not only prefers to grow in the presence of salt levels close to their origin but could also be used for bio-desalination and biodiesel production. Furthermore, this research shows that local algal strains from a saline environment are viable candidates for bio-desalination and biodiesel production.

Muluwork’s thesis was supervised by Prof. Feleke Zewege, Professor of Environmental science at Addis Ababa University and Director of Africa Center of Excellence, Dr. Demeke Kifle, Zoologist at Addis Ababa University, and Prof. Endalkachew Sahel-Demissie, Senior Scientist, Environmental Protection Agency, USA.

The examiners were Dr. Ashraf Aly Hassen, Environmental Engineer at the University of Al Ain, UAE, and Dr. Adey Feleke, Microbiologist at Addis Ababa University, and the session was chaired by Dr. Beteley Tekola, Deputy Director of ACEWM.

Muluwork Maru attained her BSc Degree in Applied Chemistry from Gondor University in 2006, and her MSc Degree in Applied Chemistry specializing in Analytical Chemistry from Jimma University in 2020. She served as a lecturer in the Chemical Engineering Department of Jimma University teaching electrochemistry, analytical and instrumental chemistry, organic and inorganic chemistry, and other chemistry laboratory courses, until she joined ACEWM, to conduct her Ph.D. study in Water Management (Water Science and Technology Track), in 2017.

Muluwork published two Articles in high-impact international Journals in August 2022 and Sept 2022, under the titles of

• M. Maru,F. Zewge, E. Sahle-Demissie, D. Kifle, Effect of culture conditions on the growth and biomass of native microalgal species isolated from a brackish rift valley lake (Lake Beseka, Ethiopia), international journal on algae, vol.24, 2022, issue 3
• Muluwork Maru,FelekeZewge, DemekeKifle, EndalkachewSahle-Demissie, Biodesalination of brackish water coupled with lipid production using native Scenedesmus sp. isolated from a saline lake in Ethiopia, Lake Basaka, Desalination and Water Treatment266 (2022) 39–48, doi: 10.5004/dwt.2022.28618