Archive for August, 2017

New Advisory Board members for Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

We are delighted to welcome the following new members to the Advisory Board of Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

  Irini Angelidaki is a Professor at the Technical University of Denmark, Denmark. Her research field is in the development of biotechnological processes for conversion of organic matter to bioenergy, biofuels and biochemicals. Within this, she focuses on microbiology and processes technology; process optimization; molecular methods for characterization of bacteria; pretreatment of biomass; micro- and macro-algae; microbial electrochemistry; and biorefineries.
Nicholas Ashbolt is Professor and Alberta Innovates Translational Health Chair in Waterborne Diseases in the School of Public Health, University of Alberta. His current research focuses on understanding the ecology of saprozoic pathogens in engineered water systems to develop improved management of these water-based and other enteric pathogens in urban water systems. Through his career he has focused on translating microbiological risks into best management practices and regulatory reform; pioneering developments and uptake of quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) into Australian, Canadian, Scandinavia, United States, and WHO drinking, recreational and reuse water guidelines/regulations.
  Joby Boxall is Professor of Water Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Sheffield, UK. His research interests are concerned with understanding and modelling hydraulic, water quality and infrastructure performance throughout the natural and urban environment. His research interests are multi-disciplinary and have a number of cross cutting themes that include research in full-scale live systems, pilot and laboratory systems, with the application of theoretical, computational and analytical approaches. His current focus is largely on potable water distribution systems.
  Amy Childress is Professor and Director of Environmental Engineering in the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. For the past 20 years, her research and scholarly interests have been in the area of membrane processes for water treatment, wastewater reclamation, and desalination. Her research team currently carries out projects on membrane processes for innovative solutions to contaminant and energy challenges; pressure-driven membrane processes as industry standards for desalination and water reuse; membrane bioreactor technology; and colloidal and interfacial aspects of membrane processes.
  Yujie Feng is a Professor of Environmental Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology, China. Her research interests include bio-energy/resources recovery from waste streams, environmental electrochemistry, microbial electrochemistry systems, environmental risk assessment and removal technology for emergent toxic substances in urban water systems.
  Graham Gagnon  is a Full Professor in the Department of Civil & Resource Engineering at Dalhousie University, Canada. He is the NSERC/Halifax Water Industrial Research Chair in Water Quality & Treatment – where his research lab studies drinking water quality for improving treatment processes and quality at the tap. His lab studies physical chemical processes, biological treatment processes and corrosion processes in drinking water.
  Arjen Hoekstra is a Professor at University of Twente, The Netherlands. His scientific publications cover a wide range of topics related to water, food, energy and trade. Hoekstra pioneered in quantifying the water volumes virtually embedded in trade, thus showing the relevance of a global perspective on water use and scarcity. As creator of the water footprint concept, Hoekstra introduced supply-chain thinking in water management.
  Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern  is a Professor in Environmental and Analytical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath, UK. Her research is inherently interdisciplinary spanning the four interrelated research areas of environmental, analytical and water sciences, and epidemiology. Her recent interests are related to urban water, pollution and human epidemiology. She is currently researching into the impact of stereochemistry on the fate and effects of micropollutants in aquatic environment and implications for risk assessment and legislation. She is also focussing on new epidemiology approaches for public health assessment via water fingerprinting.
  Tove Larsen is a researcher and member of the directorate at Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology. She is an adjunct professor at the Danish Technical University, DTU. She has dedicated her career to understanding how radical technical innovation can shape sustainable urban water management in a resource-scarce future dominated by dramatic urban growth and climate change. She has worked for more than 20 years on the emerging paradigm of source separation and decentralization, framing and leading a number of innovative inter and transdisciplinary projects.
  Irene Lo is a Chair Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of Environmental Engineering and Management Program at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Her main research areas include magnetic nano-particles and nano-photocatalysts for environmental applications; pollutant migration in soils; food waste and solid waste treatment and management; and remediation technologies for river sediment, contaminated soils and groundwater.
Thanh (Helen) Nguyen is currently an Associate Professor of environmental engineering and a faculty affiliate with the Institute for Genomic Biology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research group focuses on waterborne pathogens for global water and food safety. Besides a number of projects based in the US, her group is conducting research in developing countries on human resilience to waterborne infectious disease outbreak related to extreme natural events. Her group has published on a wide range of topics related to human health impact of water reuse, food safety, and pathogens in drinking water distribution systems. 
  Zhiyong “Jason” Ren is an Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA. His research group analyzes reaction mechanisms and develops technologies for energy and resource recovery during wastewater treatment, remediation, and water desalination processes.
  Eveline Volcke is a Professor at the University of Ghent, Belgium. Her research is focused on efficient and sustainable process design and control, applying a combination of physical-based modelling and experimental techniques. She has a specific expertise in bioconversion processes. Particular examples concern innovative biological nitrogen removal processes, greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment processes, granular sludge reactors for compact wastewater treatment and anaerobic digestion.
  Aijie Wang is a Professor at the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Professor at the Harbin Institute of Technology, P.R. China. She is the Deputy Director of the National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Wastewater Treatment, and Head of CAS Key Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology. Her research interests cover water pollution control and resource recovery, which includes bio-based technology for heavily polluted industrial wastewater treatment, polluted aquatic environment bioremediation, and resources/bioenergy recovery from waste (water)/biosolids.
Jeyong Yoon is a professor in School of Chemical and Biological Engineering College of Engineering at Seoul National University, Korea . He is a president of the Academic Society for Appropriate Technology. His research group studies convergence technology (CDI desalination, Electrochemical resource recovery, Electrode development for oxidant generation, Appropriate technology for safe water) focused on environmental engineering based on electrochemical technology and energy technology to solve global water and energy problem.
Han-Qing Yu is a Professor in the School of Chemistry and Materials Science at the University of Science and Technology of China. His main research interests include biological wastewater treatment, physicochemical water and wastewater treatment.

Also appointed but not pictured:

Kartik Chandran is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University in the City of New York, USA. His research interests include the environmental applications of microbiology and biotechnology such as re-engineering the global nitrogen cycle, sustainable sanitation, public health microbiology, water and wastewater treatment, bioenergetics (including biofuels) and biorefining.

Read some of the high-impact research published in Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology by our new Advisory Board members below:

Characterising and understanding the impact of microbial biofilms and the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) matrix in drinking water distribution systems
Katherine E. Fish, A. Mark Osborn and Joby Boxall

Electrochemical technologies for wastewater treatment and resource reclamation
Yujie Feng, Lisha Yang, Junfeng Liu and Bruce E. Logan

Water quality and filter performance of nutrient-, oxidant- and media-enhanced drinking water biofilters
Amina K. Stoddart and Graham A. Gagnon

The consumptive water footprint of electricity and heat: a global assessment
Mesfin M. Mekonnen, P. W. Gerbens-Leenes and Arjen Y. Hoekstra

A conductive wood membrane anode improves effluent quality of microbial fuel cells
Zhe Huang, Amy Gong, Dianxun Hou, Liangbing Hu and Zhiyong Jason Ren

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15th IWA World Conference on Anaerobic Digestion

The 15th IWA World Conference on Anaerobic Digestion (AD-15) is taking place om Beijing, China on 17th to 20th October 2017.

Anaerobic technology is widely adopted as a cost-effective way to waste (water) treatment, and has currently transferred from sole waste (water) treatment to integrated measure of waste-to-resource recovery, e.g. carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, sulfur, biogas, biofuels, etc. It can be expected that the demand of technical innovation for fossil energy substitution, nutrients circulation, and efficient wastes management would increase continuously due to the global carbon emission reduction pressure. This indicated that we are standing at the turning point of reframing the future anaerobic technology towards a more sustainable world. Therefore, this conference will mainly target the most promising technologies that could significantly boost the development of AD globally, and will emphatically address cutting-edge and emerging technologies with high acceptability to industries during a three-day event.

The main topics for the conference include:

  • Anaerobic-Centric Technology for Industrial and Municipal Wastewater Treatment
  • Innovative/Emerging Anaerobic Technologies
  • Anaerobic Technology for Resource Recovery
  • Anaerobic Technology for Agricultural Waste Treatment
  • Low Cost Anaerobic Technology

To find out more and register your place, visit the conference website – http://ad15.medmeeting.org/en 

 

Key Date:

Registration deadline: 1st October 2017

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Emerging Investigator Series – Julian Fairey

Julian Fairey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Arkansas with research and teaching interests related to aquatic chemistry and physical-chemical treatment processes for water. His research group focuses on various aspects of drinking water disinfection byproduct formation and control and development of sensors for distribution system monitoring. Prior to joining the University of Arkansas, he earned a BSc at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, a MS and PhD at The University of Texas at Austin, and had a post-doctoral research appointment at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, all in Civil-Environmental Engineering.

Read his Emerging Investigators series article “Trihalomethane, Dihaloacetonitrile, and Total N-nitrosamine Precursor Adsorption by Modified Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) and CNT Micropillars” and find out more about his research in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on the absorbance of precursors of disinfection byproducts on carbon nanotubes.  How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

Like many academics, my first article was published when I was a graduate student and was based data I collected in the lab. Now, as a faculty member, I conceive of ideas that are executed (after being improved upon!) by my graduate students – I try to help with experimental design, interpretation, and messaging, but need to rely on others to collect interesting primary data. So, my role has evolved since my first article, from Player to General Manager. But my goal all along has remained the same – to identify and solve important problems related to water treatment.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

My collaborations – in this particular article, we worked with a material scientist from the University of Cambridge and a data scientist from my institution, the University of Arkansas – the quality and impact of my work are greatly enhanced as a result and am looking forward to continuing these collaborations and developing new ones.

In your opinion, what is the biggest impact to the environment presented by disinfection byproducts?

In the United States, many water utilities have altered their disinfection strategy in an attempt to meet disinfection byproduct regulations. This practice can have unintended consequences that may negatively impact other areas of water treatment and distribution – so, it can be argued that the biggest impact of DBPs has been indirect – in the well- intentioned pursuit of meeting DBP regulations, other aspects of drinking water quality have been compromised, sometimes with devastating results. This has really spurred my interest in improving the understanding DBP formation and developing strategies for DBP precursor removal.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

I worry that I am not identifying the truly important problems related to water treatment and distribution – perhaps in the pursuit of doing something novel, I am preoccupied, and my time could be put to better use if I went a different direction. As an academic, it’s hard to know when and how to course-correct.

In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

I reliably attend the AWWA Water Quality & Technology Conference and the Gordon Research Conference for Environmental Sciences: Water.

How do you spend your spare time?

I just bought a house, so I spend a good amount of time learning how to fix various things and driving to and from Lowe’s. To clear my mind, I workout and (try to) play piano and chess; the occasional glass of scotch, bourbon, and beer help too!

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I love sports and the advising part of my job, so I think I would really enjoy coaching or managing a team. A sabbatical with a MLB or NHL franchise would be pretty cool!

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Be kind, honest, and humble. I feel certain aspects of academia may (unintentionally) encourage otherwise behaviors.

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Conference on Sustainable Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery: Research, Planning, Design and Operation

The Conference on Sustainable Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery: Research, Planning, Design and Operation is being held in Chongqing, China on 7th – 10th November 2017.

The Conference will be an international meeting point for scientists, engineers, managers, and entrepreneurs, providing an opportunity to review and assess research and management practices on nutrient removal, aimed at improving natural dynamic processes and pollution control, in particular planning, operation, performance, and economics of wastewater treatment.

The conference program will include presentations on research and projects undertaken worldwide.  Some of the most important Chinese and international nutrient removal and recovery experts will be invited to present papers on subjects within their areas of expertise. These include Professor Willy Verstraete, Professor Hallvard Odegaard, Professor Norbert Jardin and Professor Helmut Kroiss.

Key Dates:

Early Bird Registration Deadline: 15th September 2017

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Emerging Investigator Series – Danmeng Shuai

Dr. Danmeng Shuai is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The George Washington University since 2013. He graduated from Tsinghua University, P. R. China with a Bachelor of Engineering in 2005 and a Master of Engineering in 2007, both in Environmental Engineering. He received a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012. He worked as a postdoctoral research associate in the University of Iowa from 2012 to 2013. His research interests are in the development of innovative materials for water-energy-health nexus. He has published several peer-review journal articles in Environ. Sci. Technol., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., ACS Catal., Environ. Sci. Water Res. Technol., etc. His current research is supported by National Science Foundation and US Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Follow Danmeng on Twitter – @DanmengShuai and visit his Research Group’s website – http://materwatersus.weebly.com/

Read his Emerging Investigators series article “Emerging investigators series: Advances and Challenges of Graphitic Carbon Nitride as a Visible-Light-Responsive Photocatalyst for Sustainable Water Purification” and find out more about his research below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper in Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology focuses on graphitic carbon nitride as a photocatalyst for sustainable water purification. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

Our research group has been working on graphitic carbon nitride for photocatalytic water purification since 2014. Graphitic carbon nitride is an emerging photocatalyst since 2009, and it has several unique merits that promote its applications for sustainable, solar-energy-powered water purification. We developed graphitic carbon nitride with improved photocatalytic performance by density functional theory simulations, and evaluated its performance for the degradation of persistent organic micropollutants in complex water matrices that represent water and wastewater treatment practices (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.6b02579). Beyond the scope of chemical contaminants, we are currently working on antimicrobial applications of graphitic carbon nitride for the inactivation of waterborne, foodborne, airborne, and surface-borne pathogens, by utilizing renewable solar energy and visible indoor light. For example, we collaborated with other researchers for virus inactivation by graphitic carbon nitride (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004313541630745X). US Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) recently started to support us for developing graphitic carbon nitride-based antimicrobial materials for safe food processing and packaging (https://nifa.usda.gov/announcement/usda-announces-46-million-nanotechnology-research).

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

We are most attracted by the unique feature and diverse applications of graphitic carbon nitride. The interaction between graphitic carbon nitride and chemical contaminants could be tailored for selective contaminant removal. We observed some graphitic carbon nitride samples showed selective photocatalytic degradation of persistent organic micropollutants (e.g., atrazine), and are currently using a combined experimental and simulation approach to understand the mechanism. It will help the rational design of highly reactive and selective photocatalyst for the removal of contaminants of a low concentration and high toxicity, even in the presence of complex water constituents. Graphitic carbon nitride also effectively inactivates microorganisms under simulated indoor light (we used white LED and it worked!), and we are exploring its applications for catalysis, adsorption, and membrane separation. For example, we used graphitic carbon nitride as a catalyst support for Pd-based hydrogenation of contaminant nitrate and nitrite, and observed high reactivity, selectivity toward a desired product, and longevity of the catalysts (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.7b09192).

In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge for sustainable water purification and how does the use of graphitic carbon nitride help to overcome this?

An ideal, sustainable water purification system requires improved performance for the removal of persistent and emerging contaminants, reduced energy and chemical footprint, potential resource recovery from the waste, and minimized adverse impacts of treated water (reduced byproducts). Graphitic carbon nitride can use renewable solar energy for water treatment, and its performance may outperform peer photocatalysts because it can harvest and utilize more visible light. Our previous study demonstrates the viability of graphitic carbon nitride for the removal of persistent organic micropollutants, and the material holds promise for sustainable, small-scale water treatment (e.g., for small communities, rural areas, developing countries). We also believe this material can be tailored for resource recovery in the future.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

Challenges come from two folds, one is the atomic-scale, mechanistic understanding of how the material is interacting with chemicals and biomolecules, and the other one is the large-scale implementation of the material for solving real world problems. For example, scalability, stability, long-term performance of graphitic carbon nitride, as well as photoreactor design are crucial yet challenging for its applications, as we suggested in this perspective.

In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

ACS, Gordon (Water, Environmental Nano, Nanoscale Science & Engineering for Agriculture & Food Systems), AEESP conferences.

How do you spend your spare time?

Cooking and staying with my family. I always tell my friends I can cook well because I am working with chemicals. However I don’t need a six digit balance to decide how much salt will be suitable for the dish.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

A chef maybe?

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Expand core expertise, diversify research areas, and welcome collaborations. I never thought of working with microorganisms, but thanks to my wife who introduces me into a new, intriguing field (she is an environmental microbiologist).

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