Removal of Contaminants from Water and Wastewater: (Bio)Sorption, Membrane Filtration, Advanced Oxidation

Overcoming the emerging global water shortages and pollution are grand challenges faced by humanity today. This poster will provide an overview of my research upon the development and optimizations of different biological, chemical and physical methods for removal of toxic and carcinogenic contaminants (both organic and inorganic) from water and wastewater. Summary of my top achievements include: During my Master, I worked on optimization of biosorption process which is an eco-friendly, effective and extremely low-cost technology for removal of synthetic dyes and hexavalent chromium which are toxic and carcinogenic contaminants, from water by using available biosorbents/adsorbents (such as algae, aquatic plants, etc.). Finally, potent organic/inorganic-binding biomass types for removal of pollutants form aqueous solution were discovered. My current PhD research is on Optimization of advanced oxidation process (pulsed corona electrical discharge, UV/photocatalysts) as a highly efficient method, for removal of public health dangers contaminants (synthetic dyes, humic substances) from water/wastewater without using any chemicals (eco-friendly) and optimization of a unique hybrid advanced oxidation technology /nanocomposite ultrafiltration membrane for removal of synthetic and natural organic public health dangers contaminants form water.

Research Interests:

• Using low cost biosorbents/adsorbents for wastewater treatment
• Membrane-based hybrid processes for treating impaired quality waters
• Providing important insights into fundamental mechanisms of membrane fouling under a wide range of operating conditions. 
• Development of novel approaches to enhance performance of advanced oxidation processes (electrical discharge, UV photocatalysts, ozone) for water and waste water treatment

Future Direction: My research experiences and objectives give me confidence that I will be able to obtain funding and add significant improvements in areas related to the water and wastewater treatment. I will be able to establish a strong collaboration with industry and academia to make my research objectives achievable.

Teaching Interests:  As a faculty member, I would like to continue my research in the water and wastewater treatment. I am interested to teach graduate courses in the field of Advanced Topics in Environmental Chemistry, Chemical Principles of Environmental Systems, and the graduate laboratory courses on Environmental Instrumentation. I also would like to teach the undergraduate and core courses on kinetic, transport phenomena, environmental material balances and coordinate in the undergraduate Capstone Course.

Selected publications:

• Negin Koutahzadeh, Milad Rabbani Esfahani, Pedro E Arce, Removal of Acid Black 1 from water by the pulsed corona discharge advanced oxidation method, Journal of Water Process Engineering, Volume 10, April 2016, Pages 1–8.
• Negin Koutahzadeh, Milad Rabbani Esfahani, Pedro E Arce, A sequential use of UV/H₂O₂ – (PSF/TiO₂/MWCNT) mixed matrix membranes for dye removal in water purification: Membrane permeation, fouling, rejection and decolorization, Journal of Environmental Engineering Science, 2016 (Accepted, In press).
• Negin Koutahzadeh, E. Daneshvar, M.Kousha, M.S.Sohrabi, A.Bhatnagar, Biosorption of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solutions by six brown macro algae biomasses: Equilibrium and kinetics studies, Journal of Desalination and Water Treatment, Volume 51, Issue 31-33, 2013.