Sustainable water and wastewater processing
Our activities focus on addressing the global water-energy nexus challenges including developing innovative methods for sustainable desalination, wastewater processing and water recycling to provide clean water to address the rising global pressure for fresh water supply, energy recovery from wet waste or wastewater, and wastewater treatment process synthesis and real-time optimisation and control.
Facilities
Pilot scale water and wastewater treatment and biomass processing
- FO/NF/RO membrane filtration systems
- 20kHz horn capable of flow through, treatment at high pressure and temperature for biomass.
Techno-economic and life cycle assessment
- SimaPro
- SuperPro Designer.
Analysis of scaling/precipitation
- PHREEQC program.
Techno-economic and real-time optimisation
- General algebraic modeling system (GAMS).
Bioreactor modelling
- COMSOL software
- MATLAB platform.
Energy labs
- Bench top water-splitting setup for hydrogen production
- Microbial electrosynthesis system (MES) for waste-water treatment.
Analytical instruments
- Inductively coupled plasma - optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES)
- Nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA)
- Total organic carbon (TOC)
- High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
- Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS)
- Low light camera
- Data colour spectrophotometer
- Potentiostat/galvanostat electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analyser
- Conductometer.
Bench scale water and wastewater and biomass treatment
- Hydrothermal carbonisation reactor owned by Antaco
- UF/NF/RO/FO membrane filtration systems
- Multifrequency ultrasound processing systems
- Biological digesters
- Sludge and waste water treatment.
Collaborations
Academic institutions
Projects
Completed projects
Start date: 2017
End date: 2018
Meet the team
Academic staff
Dr Bahman Amini Horri
Associate Professor of Energy Materials and Sustainability Fellow at the Institute for Sustainability
Dr Madeleine Bussemaker
Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering
Dr Franjo Cecelja
Reader
Dr Ralph Chadeesingh
Senior Teaching Fellow in Chemical Process Engineering
Dr Melis Duyar
Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Process Engineering
Dr Siddharth Gadkari
Lecturer in Chemical Process Engineering
Dr Judy Lee
Reader, Director of Learning and Teaching for Chemical and Process Engineering
Dr Michael Short
Senior Lecturer of Process Systems Engineering
Professor Rex Thorpe
Professor of Chemical Engineering
Dr Dimitrios Tsaoulidis
Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering
Postgraduate research students
Read completed dissertations by our past students:
- Odour treatment in sewage treatment works by Behzad Haji Mirza Beigi
- Unlocking the full energy potential of sewage sludge by Nick Mills
- Advanced oxidation processes for the treatment of real slaughterhouse wastewater after a biological treatment by Pello Alfonso-Muniozguren
- Membrane fouling by nano/microplastics: Origin mechanisms and mitigation strategies by Marie Clemence Enfrin.
Meshkat Dolat
Project: Optimisation and system design for bespoke dual function materials for direct air carbon capture and utilisation
Ros Fomin
Project: Fouling behaviour of a membrane bioreactor system and the impact of different cleaning operations
Cyril Hachemi
Project: Comprehensive understanding of the impact of microplastics on membrane bioreactors
Mustapha Hamdan
Postgraduate Research Student
Junbin Huang
Project: CO2 reduction through microbial electrolysis system and chemicals upgrading
Om Sabnis
MSc summer researcher
Anna Salvian
Project: Development of microbial self-powered biosensor for water quality monitoring
Dr Tim Sidnell
Project: Ultrasonic degradation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
Maano Tshimange
Project: Mining of phosphorus in wastewater using forward-osmosis membrane system
Dr Mehrdad Zare
Project: Ultrasonic remediation of pharmaceutical emerging contaminants (ECs) in water/wastewater