Natalia Franco Clavijo

PhD Candidate

Natalia Franco Clavijo is a PhD candidate at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the graduate research university on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. Her research addresses membrane fouling and mineral scaling in reverse osmosis desalination, two of the most persistent constraints on the efficiency and cost of producing desalinated water. She works with membrane fouling simulators and in situ optical coherence tomography to observe how scale develops on membrane surfaces, generating practical insight into scaling behaviour. That insight supports the development of chemical-free, operation-based strategies that are directly relevant to industrial desalination systems.