Adsorption, Bio-hydrogen production, Phytoremediation, Solid and hazardous waste management, Wastewater treatment
Removal of Heavy Metals and other Pollutants from Aqueous Solution/Sludges using Agriculture Waste Materials and other Low Cost Adsorbents
Agricultural wastes are unused resources, which in many cases present a serious problem of disposal. However, these waste materials can be used to remove toxic heavy metal and other pollutants from wastewater as they are capable of binding by adsorption, chelation, and ion exchange. The exchange properties of these wastes can be attributed to the presence of carboxylic, phenolic, and hydroxylic groups. In order to enhance cation exchange capacities, these groups may be modified by oxidation, carboxymethylation, acetylation, and phosphation. The utilization of agricultural by-products in treating the wastewater/sludges contaminated by heavy metals and other pollutants is an attractive area of research.
Hydrogen produced from biomass in a sustainable way is recognized as an important component of the fuel market for future low or non-carbon based energy systems. A combination of hydrogen with fuel cells can help in saving energy. Agro-industrial wastewater rich in organics can be used for biohydrogen production using a dark fermentation process. Biohydrogen production can be enhanced by using an enzyme which can degrade complex organics to simpler compounds. This can be coupled with a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC). Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC), a bioreactor, can convert chemical energy in the chemical bonds in organic compounds into electrical energy through catalytic reactions of microorganisms under anaerobic conditions. Thus, waste can be changed to a clean source of energy.
Phytoremediation for Treatment of Wastewater/ Contaminated Soil
Phytoremediation uses plants to clean wastewater/contaminated sites. It is the use of plants to partially or substantially remediate selected contaminants in contaminated soil, sludge, sediment, ground water, surface water and wastewater. It utilizes a variety of plant biological processes and the physical characteristics of plants to aid in remediation. Phytoremediation is widely viewed as the ecologically viable alternative to the environmentally destructive physical remediation methods currently practiced. Plants have several endogenous genetic, biochemical, and physiological properties that make them ideal agents for soil and water remediation. Phytoremediation uses hyperaccumulator and accumulator plants that can remove excess heavy metals from contaminated soils, wastewater and sludge.
|Master Theses Supervised|
|1985:||Smita Bhargava. Consumer Acceptability of Parched Soybean and their Biochemical and Nutritional Assessment.|
|1986:||Mamata Dave. Effect of Food Supplementation on Marasmic Children.|
|2002:||Tonni A. Kurniawan. A Research Study on Chromium (VI) Removal from Contaminated Waste Water Using Chemically Modified Low Cost Adsorbents and Commercial Activated Carbon. Supported by the Asian Development Bank. Awarded the Best Thesis submitted to the BioInfoBank Library (Poland) in 2008, by the Scientific Committee of BioInfoBank Institute, Poland.|
|2007:||Einstine M. Opiso. Removal of Chromium (VI) from Contaminated Wastewater by Andisol.
|2014:||Xaysackda Vilaysouk. Estimation of GHG emission from municipal solid waste management in Lao PDR case study: Vientiane, Luang prabang and Xayabouri.
|2015:||Tu Anh Nguyen Kieu. Application of microwave technology for treatment of human feces.
|2015:||Manisha Poudyal. Investigations on the efficiencies of low cost adsorbents for the treatment of fluoride contaminated water.
|2015:||Putri Ardyarini Sekartaji. Photocatalytic degradation of humic acid (HA) in a water environment.|
|Doctoral Theses Supervised|
|2006:||Yasantha Abeysundara U. G. Environmental, Economic and Social Assessment of Construction Materials for Greening the Life of Buildings in Sri Lanka. Received an Award for Outstanding Postgraduate Research under the Hiran Tillekeratne Research Fund from the University Grants Commission, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 22 October 2008.|
|2007:||Dominica del Mundo Dacera. Extraction and Removal of Heavy Metals from Contaminated Sludge Using Raw and Fermented Liquid from Pine Apple Wastes.|
|2009:||Jenjira Saetang. Landfill Leachate Treatment by White Rot Fungi.|
|2012:||Emmanuel P. Leano. Hydrogen and Electricity Production from Agro-industrial Wastewater Using Microorganisms.|
|2012:||Chayarat Tantanasarit. Nutrient Dynamics and Its Effect on Green Mussels (Perna virdis).|
|2015:||Nonglak Rungruang. Phytoextraction of Cadmium from Contaminated Soil.|
|2015:||Hanggara Sudrajat. Synthesis of nitrogen-doped metal oxides and their application in photocatalytic degradation of dyes.|