Dheaya Alrousan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Dheaya Alrousan
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2003
Natural and chemically treated chicken feathers (CF) were tested for their ability, as adsorbents... more Natural and chemically treated chicken feathers (CF) were tested for their ability, as adsorbents, to remove copper and zinc from wastewater. Alkaline solutions of 0.2 N NaOH were found to be the best for the sorption process and a 0.6 wt% solution of dodecyl sulfate, as anionic surfactant, also gave best adsorption results. Treatment of CF with alkaline solutions adsorb more metal ions than those treated with the anionic surfactant followed by the untreated CF. Generally, the kinetics of the removal process by all tested sorbents was fast. The Freundlich isotherm model was found to represent the equilibrium results, of all adsorbents toward copper and zinc, reasonably well.
Adsorption Science & Technology, 2002
Date-pits (an agricultural by-product available commercially) were utilized, with and without act... more Date-pits (an agricultural by-product available commercially) were utilized, with and without activation, as an adsorbent for the removal of Zn2+ and Cu2+ ions from aqueous solutions. Activated carbons were prepared from date-pits by carbon dioxide activation at 700°C. The effects of contact time, pH, temperature and the adsorbent concentration on the removal of Zn2+ and Cu2+ ions were studied. The Freundlich isotherm model described the equilibrium adsorption data. Non-activated date-pits exhibited higher Zn2+ and Cu2+ ion uptake than activated date-pits. The uptake of Cu2+ ions by both activated and non-activated date-pits was higher than the uptake of Zn2+ ions. The uptake of both metal ions increased on increasing the pH value of the system from 3.5 to 5.0 as well as on decreasing the temperature from 50°C to 25°C. Adsorption capacities for the non-activated date-pits towards Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions as high as 0.15 mmol/g and 0.09 mmol/g, respectively, were observed. This study demon...
2021 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI)
the used in in the evaluation of ozone-based oxidation and solar advanced oxidation treatment of ... more the used in in the evaluation of ozone-based oxidation and solar advanced oxidation treatment of greywater
Data in Brief, 2021
We present here a data set generated from a multinational survey on opinions of university commun... more We present here a data set generated from a multinational survey on opinions of university community members on the prospect of consuming food grown with human urine as fertiliser and about their urine recycling perceptions in general. The data set comprises answers from 3,763 university community members (students, faculty/researchers, and staff) from 20 universities in 16 countries and includes demographic variables (age bracket, gender, type of settlement of origin, academic discipline, and role in the university). Questions were designed based on Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour to elicit information about three components of behavioural intention—attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. Survey questions covered perceived risks and benefits (attitudes), perceptions of colleagues (injunctive social norm) and willingness to consume food grown with cow urine/faeces (descriptive social norm), and willingness to pay a price premium for food grown with human urine as fertiliser (perceived behavioural control). We also included a question about acceptable urine recycling and disposal options and assessed general environmental outlook via the 15-item revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale. Data were collected through a standardised survey instrument translated into the relevant languages and then administered via an online form. Invitations to the survey were sent by email to university mailing lists or to a systematic sample of the university directory. Only a few studies on attitudes towards using human urine as fertiliser have been conducted previously. The data described here, which we analysed in “Willingness among food consumers at universities to recycle human urine as crop fertiliser: Evidence from a multinational survey” [1], may be used to further understand potential barriers to acceptance of new sanitation systems based on wastewater source separation and urine recycling and can help inform the design of future sociological studies.
The Science of the total environment, 2021
This data set consists of anonymous survey responses to a standardized survey on attitudes toward... more This data set consists of anonymous survey responses to a standardized survey on attitudes towards recycling human urine as crop fertiliser. The survey was administered online in 2017 and 2018 to university community members from 20 universities in 16 countries, and resulted in 3,763 completed responses. The primary goal was to assess hypothetical willingness to buy and consume food grown with human urine as fertiliser, and the secondary goal was to identify potentially explanatory cross-cultural and country-specific factors. Both raw and cleaned data are provided here, as well as the survey instruments (English original and translated local versions). Data other than open-ended comments in the cleaned sheet (AllData.xlsx) were translated into English where necessary. An index to files and list of variables are given in IndexCodebook.pdf, and the survey methodology and data limitations are described in detail in a forthcoming Data in Brief paper (Barton et al., submitted).
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2020
This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the ad... more This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
International Journal of Photoenergy, 2011
It is estimated that 884 million people lack access to improved water supplies. Many more are for... more It is estimated that 884 million people lack access to improved water supplies. Many more are forced to rely on supplies that are microbiologically unsafe, resulting in a higher risk of waterborne diseases, including typhoid, hepatitis, polio, and cholera. Due to poor sanitation and lack of clean drinking water, there are around 4 billion cases of diarrhea each year resulting in 2.2 million deaths, most of these are children under five. While conventional interventions to improve water supplies are effective, there is increasing interest in household-based interventions to produce safe drinking water at an affordable cost for developing regions. Solar disinfection (SODIS) is a simple and low cost technique used to disinfect drinking water, where water is placed in transparent containers and exposed to sunlight for 6 hours. There are a number of parameters which affect the efficacy of SODIS, including the solar irradiance, the quality of the water, and the nature of the contamination...
Solar water disinfection (SODIS) is an effective, simple, household level, point-of-use technolog... more Solar water disinfection (SODIS) is an effective, simple, household level, point-of-use technology suitable for application in developing countries. Contaminated water is placed in a plastic container (typically a 2L PET bottle) and exposed to sunlight for at least 6 hours. Laboratory and field trials have demonstrated SODIS to effective against a wide range of waterborne pathogens with health impact assessments demonstrating significant benefits from consumption of SODIS treated water. Photocatalytic (PC) enhancement of the SODIS process could provide larger volumes of safe drinking water and reduce the sunlight exposure time. Pilot scale, modular PC-SODIS reactors were designed and constructed from low-cost materials and tested, under real sunlight the south of Spain, for their efficiency to disinfect water containing ~1 x10 6 Escherichia coil cells/mL. The inclusion of an immobilised nanostructured titanium dioxide coating within 1.25 L static batch and 7 L re-circulating reactors accelerated the rate of disinfection with 6-log kill observed in 3 hours. Complete disinfection was not observed in re-circulating SODIS reactors. Photocatalytic enhancement was observed during full sun and cloudy weather conditions.
Adsorption Science & Technology, 2002
This study examined and compared the ability of chicken feathers, human hair and animal horns, as... more This study examined and compared the ability of chicken feathers, human hair and animal horns, as keratin-composed biosorbents, for the removal of Zn2+and Cu2+ions from single metal ion aqueous solutions under different operating conditions. The three biosorbents investigated in this study were all capable of adsorbing Zn2+and Cu2+ions from aqueous solutions. The biosorbent showing the highest uptake of Zn2+and Cu2+ions was animal horns. Chicken feathers showed a higher Cu2+ion uptake and a lower Zn2+ion compared to human hair. Increasing the initial concentration of Zn2+or Cu2+ions, or increasing the initial pH value, increased the metal ion uptake. Such uptake decreased when the temperature was raised from 25°C to 50°C for all adsorbent/metal ion combinations except for Zn2+ion/human hair where the uptake increased with temperature. It was demonstrated that the addition of NaCl salt to the metal ion solution depressed the metal ion uptake. The Freundlich isotherm model was found t...
2007 Cleantech Conference and Trade Show Cleantech 2007, 2019
This paper presents some of the research work taking place at the University of Ulster investigat... more This paper presents some of the research work taking place at the University of Ulster investigating preparation, characterisation and application of nanostructred TiO2. Four exemplars are used to demonstrate the potential applications of these materials i.e. photocatalytic disinfection of water containing chlorine resistant microorganisms, photocatalytic ‘self-cleaning’ of surfaces contaminated with protein, transducers for electrochemical biosensors and finally new opportunities presented by electrochemical growth of TiO2 aligned nanotubes.
Science of The Total Environment
Water Resources Management
This publication has been produced as a result of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zu... more This publication has been produced as a result of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implemented project "Decentralized Integrated Sludge Management"-DISM activities on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).All rights for the content of this paper are reserved for GIZ, the views presented are entirely the responsibility of the authors.
DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT
Grey water (GW) is a valuable source for water reclamation in many useful applications. In order ... more Grey water (GW) is a valuable source for water reclamation in many useful applications. In order to be safe for reuse, grey water should undergo sufficient treatment. In the last few years, electrocoagulation (EC) technique has proved to be an attractive method for GW treatment. However, an important consideration when dealing with grey water is the duration time prior to treatment which, if extended, might lead to a significant increase in the fraction of soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD), which could affect the EC treatment performance. This parameter presents a potential for explaining further patterns in selecting EC technique for GW treatment. In this study, three categories of GW samples comprising different percentages of SCOD, specifically 10%, 54% and 85% were obtained after storing the samples for 1, 7 and 30 d, respectively. A bench-scale EC unit was used to demonstrate the impact of the SCOD fraction on the total COD removal. Both Al and Fe electrodes were used at different applied current densities ranged from 5.85 to 11.70 mA/cm 2. An applied current density of 9.36 mA/cm 2 was found to be sufficient to remove 96% of the total COD at 10% of SCOD during 15 min of EC time with either Al or Fe electrodes. However, a significant impact of SCOD on the total COD removal was observed; the removal efficiency of COD decreases dramatically with increasing the SCOD fractions. Statistical analysis confirmed the superiority of aluminum anodes over iron anodes with regards to energy consumption and COD removal.
Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 2011
Disi is a fossil groundwater shred between Jordan and Saudi Arabia with a very high quality prope... more Disi is a fossil groundwater shred between Jordan and Saudi Arabia with a very high quality properties, this water is limited and has been used for irrigation purposes between both countries, this study helps in highlighted the importance of this water as stratigic reserve to be use later on. This study shows that the amounts of groundwater affected by the thickness of the saturated zone in the aquifer, the porosity of the aquifer and the groundwater flow in the basin. Abstraction from the aquifer will affect water quality so this point must be clearly understood all the time.
Water Research, 2009
Photocatalysis is a promising method for the disinfection of potable water in developing countrie... more Photocatalysis is a promising method for the disinfection of potable water in developing countries where solar irradiation can be employed, thus reducing the cost of treatment. In addition to microbial contamination, water normally contains suspended solids, dissolved inorganic ions and organic compounds (mainly humic substances) which may affect the efficacy of solar photocatalysis. In this work the photocatalytic and photolytic inactivation rates of Escherichia coli using immobilised nanoparticle TiO 2 films were found to be significantly lower in surface water samples in comparison to distilled water. The presence of nitrate and sulphate anions spiked into distilled water resulted in a decrease in the rate of photocatalytic disinfection. The presence of humic acid, at the concentration found in the surface water, was found to have a more pronounced affect, significantly decreasing the rate of disinfection. Adjusting the initial pH of the water did not markedly affect the photocatalytic disinfection rate, within the narrow range studied.
Adsorption Science & Technology, 2002
Certain industries often produce mixtures of heavy metal ions in their waste products. Because of... more Certain industries often produce mixtures of heavy metal ions in their waste products. Because of the nature of heavy metal ions and the adsorption process, such metal ions can compete with each other for the sorption sites on an adsorbent during adsorption processes. In the present work, binary systems composed of copper, zinc and nickel ions were selected as examples of heavy metal ion mixtures and tested via batch adsorption processes using chicken feathers as an adsorbent. The uptake of individual metal ions was depressed by the presence of another. Thus, the uptake of copper ions from an initial copper ion solution of 20 ppm concentration was reduced from 0.042 mmol/g to ca. 0.019 mmol/g by the presence of a similar concentration of nickel ions. The Freundlich, Langmuir and Sips multi-component adsorption models were employed to predict the uptake of metal ions from binary metal ion solutions using constants obtained from adsorption isotherm models applied to single-solute syst...
Water
In keeping with the circular economy approach, reclaiming greywater (GW) is considered a sustaina... more In keeping with the circular economy approach, reclaiming greywater (GW) is considered a sustainable approach to local reuse of wastewater and a viable option to reduce household demand for freshwater. This study investigated the mineralization of total organic carbon (TOC) in GW using TiO2-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) in a custom-built stirred tank reactor. The combinations of H2O2, O3, and immobilized TiO2 under either dark or UVA irradiation conditions were systematically evaluated—namely TiO2/dark, O3/dark (ozonation), H2O2/dark (peroxidation), TiO2/UVA (photocatalysis), O3/UVA (Ozone photolysis), H2O2/UVA (photo-peroxidation), O3/TiO2/dark (catalytic ozonation), O3/TiO2/UVA (photocatalytic ozonation), H2O2/TiO2/dark, H2O2/TiO2/UVA, H2O2/O3/dark (peroxonation), H2O2/O3/UVA (photo-peroxonation), H2O2/O3/TiO2/dark (catalytic peroxonation), and H2O2/O3/TiO2/UVA (photocatalytic peroxonation). It was found that combining different treatment methods with UVA irradiation d...
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2003
Natural and chemically treated chicken feathers (CF) were tested for their ability, as adsorbents... more Natural and chemically treated chicken feathers (CF) were tested for their ability, as adsorbents, to remove copper and zinc from wastewater. Alkaline solutions of 0.2 N NaOH were found to be the best for the sorption process and a 0.6 wt% solution of dodecyl sulfate, as anionic surfactant, also gave best adsorption results. Treatment of CF with alkaline solutions adsorb more metal ions than those treated with the anionic surfactant followed by the untreated CF. Generally, the kinetics of the removal process by all tested sorbents was fast. The Freundlich isotherm model was found to represent the equilibrium results, of all adsorbents toward copper and zinc, reasonably well.
Adsorption Science & Technology, 2002
Date-pits (an agricultural by-product available commercially) were utilized, with and without act... more Date-pits (an agricultural by-product available commercially) were utilized, with and without activation, as an adsorbent for the removal of Zn2+ and Cu2+ ions from aqueous solutions. Activated carbons were prepared from date-pits by carbon dioxide activation at 700°C. The effects of contact time, pH, temperature and the adsorbent concentration on the removal of Zn2+ and Cu2+ ions were studied. The Freundlich isotherm model described the equilibrium adsorption data. Non-activated date-pits exhibited higher Zn2+ and Cu2+ ion uptake than activated date-pits. The uptake of Cu2+ ions by both activated and non-activated date-pits was higher than the uptake of Zn2+ ions. The uptake of both metal ions increased on increasing the pH value of the system from 3.5 to 5.0 as well as on decreasing the temperature from 50°C to 25°C. Adsorption capacities for the non-activated date-pits towards Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions as high as 0.15 mmol/g and 0.09 mmol/g, respectively, were observed. This study demon...
2021 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI)
the used in in the evaluation of ozone-based oxidation and solar advanced oxidation treatment of ... more the used in in the evaluation of ozone-based oxidation and solar advanced oxidation treatment of greywater
Data in Brief, 2021
We present here a data set generated from a multinational survey on opinions of university commun... more We present here a data set generated from a multinational survey on opinions of university community members on the prospect of consuming food grown with human urine as fertiliser and about their urine recycling perceptions in general. The data set comprises answers from 3,763 university community members (students, faculty/researchers, and staff) from 20 universities in 16 countries and includes demographic variables (age bracket, gender, type of settlement of origin, academic discipline, and role in the university). Questions were designed based on Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour to elicit information about three components of behavioural intention—attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. Survey questions covered perceived risks and benefits (attitudes), perceptions of colleagues (injunctive social norm) and willingness to consume food grown with cow urine/faeces (descriptive social norm), and willingness to pay a price premium for food grown with human urine as fertiliser (perceived behavioural control). We also included a question about acceptable urine recycling and disposal options and assessed general environmental outlook via the 15-item revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale. Data were collected through a standardised survey instrument translated into the relevant languages and then administered via an online form. Invitations to the survey were sent by email to university mailing lists or to a systematic sample of the university directory. Only a few studies on attitudes towards using human urine as fertiliser have been conducted previously. The data described here, which we analysed in “Willingness among food consumers at universities to recycle human urine as crop fertiliser: Evidence from a multinational survey” [1], may be used to further understand potential barriers to acceptance of new sanitation systems based on wastewater source separation and urine recycling and can help inform the design of future sociological studies.
The Science of the total environment, 2021
This data set consists of anonymous survey responses to a standardized survey on attitudes toward... more This data set consists of anonymous survey responses to a standardized survey on attitudes towards recycling human urine as crop fertiliser. The survey was administered online in 2017 and 2018 to university community members from 20 universities in 16 countries, and resulted in 3,763 completed responses. The primary goal was to assess hypothetical willingness to buy and consume food grown with human urine as fertiliser, and the secondary goal was to identify potentially explanatory cross-cultural and country-specific factors. Both raw and cleaned data are provided here, as well as the survey instruments (English original and translated local versions). Data other than open-ended comments in the cleaned sheet (AllData.xlsx) were translated into English where necessary. An index to files and list of variables are given in IndexCodebook.pdf, and the survey methodology and data limitations are described in detail in a forthcoming Data in Brief paper (Barton et al., submitted).
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2020
This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the ad... more This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
International Journal of Photoenergy, 2011
It is estimated that 884 million people lack access to improved water supplies. Many more are for... more It is estimated that 884 million people lack access to improved water supplies. Many more are forced to rely on supplies that are microbiologically unsafe, resulting in a higher risk of waterborne diseases, including typhoid, hepatitis, polio, and cholera. Due to poor sanitation and lack of clean drinking water, there are around 4 billion cases of diarrhea each year resulting in 2.2 million deaths, most of these are children under five. While conventional interventions to improve water supplies are effective, there is increasing interest in household-based interventions to produce safe drinking water at an affordable cost for developing regions. Solar disinfection (SODIS) is a simple and low cost technique used to disinfect drinking water, where water is placed in transparent containers and exposed to sunlight for 6 hours. There are a number of parameters which affect the efficacy of SODIS, including the solar irradiance, the quality of the water, and the nature of the contamination...
Solar water disinfection (SODIS) is an effective, simple, household level, point-of-use technolog... more Solar water disinfection (SODIS) is an effective, simple, household level, point-of-use technology suitable for application in developing countries. Contaminated water is placed in a plastic container (typically a 2L PET bottle) and exposed to sunlight for at least 6 hours. Laboratory and field trials have demonstrated SODIS to effective against a wide range of waterborne pathogens with health impact assessments demonstrating significant benefits from consumption of SODIS treated water. Photocatalytic (PC) enhancement of the SODIS process could provide larger volumes of safe drinking water and reduce the sunlight exposure time. Pilot scale, modular PC-SODIS reactors were designed and constructed from low-cost materials and tested, under real sunlight the south of Spain, for their efficiency to disinfect water containing ~1 x10 6 Escherichia coil cells/mL. The inclusion of an immobilised nanostructured titanium dioxide coating within 1.25 L static batch and 7 L re-circulating reactors accelerated the rate of disinfection with 6-log kill observed in 3 hours. Complete disinfection was not observed in re-circulating SODIS reactors. Photocatalytic enhancement was observed during full sun and cloudy weather conditions.
Adsorption Science & Technology, 2002
This study examined and compared the ability of chicken feathers, human hair and animal horns, as... more This study examined and compared the ability of chicken feathers, human hair and animal horns, as keratin-composed biosorbents, for the removal of Zn2+and Cu2+ions from single metal ion aqueous solutions under different operating conditions. The three biosorbents investigated in this study were all capable of adsorbing Zn2+and Cu2+ions from aqueous solutions. The biosorbent showing the highest uptake of Zn2+and Cu2+ions was animal horns. Chicken feathers showed a higher Cu2+ion uptake and a lower Zn2+ion compared to human hair. Increasing the initial concentration of Zn2+or Cu2+ions, or increasing the initial pH value, increased the metal ion uptake. Such uptake decreased when the temperature was raised from 25°C to 50°C for all adsorbent/metal ion combinations except for Zn2+ion/human hair where the uptake increased with temperature. It was demonstrated that the addition of NaCl salt to the metal ion solution depressed the metal ion uptake. The Freundlich isotherm model was found t...
2007 Cleantech Conference and Trade Show Cleantech 2007, 2019
This paper presents some of the research work taking place at the University of Ulster investigat... more This paper presents some of the research work taking place at the University of Ulster investigating preparation, characterisation and application of nanostructred TiO2. Four exemplars are used to demonstrate the potential applications of these materials i.e. photocatalytic disinfection of water containing chlorine resistant microorganisms, photocatalytic ‘self-cleaning’ of surfaces contaminated with protein, transducers for electrochemical biosensors and finally new opportunities presented by electrochemical growth of TiO2 aligned nanotubes.
Science of The Total Environment
Water Resources Management
This publication has been produced as a result of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zu... more This publication has been produced as a result of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implemented project "Decentralized Integrated Sludge Management"-DISM activities on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).All rights for the content of this paper are reserved for GIZ, the views presented are entirely the responsibility of the authors.
DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT
Grey water (GW) is a valuable source for water reclamation in many useful applications. In order ... more Grey water (GW) is a valuable source for water reclamation in many useful applications. In order to be safe for reuse, grey water should undergo sufficient treatment. In the last few years, electrocoagulation (EC) technique has proved to be an attractive method for GW treatment. However, an important consideration when dealing with grey water is the duration time prior to treatment which, if extended, might lead to a significant increase in the fraction of soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD), which could affect the EC treatment performance. This parameter presents a potential for explaining further patterns in selecting EC technique for GW treatment. In this study, three categories of GW samples comprising different percentages of SCOD, specifically 10%, 54% and 85% were obtained after storing the samples for 1, 7 and 30 d, respectively. A bench-scale EC unit was used to demonstrate the impact of the SCOD fraction on the total COD removal. Both Al and Fe electrodes were used at different applied current densities ranged from 5.85 to 11.70 mA/cm 2. An applied current density of 9.36 mA/cm 2 was found to be sufficient to remove 96% of the total COD at 10% of SCOD during 15 min of EC time with either Al or Fe electrodes. However, a significant impact of SCOD on the total COD removal was observed; the removal efficiency of COD decreases dramatically with increasing the SCOD fractions. Statistical analysis confirmed the superiority of aluminum anodes over iron anodes with regards to energy consumption and COD removal.
Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 2011
Disi is a fossil groundwater shred between Jordan and Saudi Arabia with a very high quality prope... more Disi is a fossil groundwater shred between Jordan and Saudi Arabia with a very high quality properties, this water is limited and has been used for irrigation purposes between both countries, this study helps in highlighted the importance of this water as stratigic reserve to be use later on. This study shows that the amounts of groundwater affected by the thickness of the saturated zone in the aquifer, the porosity of the aquifer and the groundwater flow in the basin. Abstraction from the aquifer will affect water quality so this point must be clearly understood all the time.
Water Research, 2009
Photocatalysis is a promising method for the disinfection of potable water in developing countrie... more Photocatalysis is a promising method for the disinfection of potable water in developing countries where solar irradiation can be employed, thus reducing the cost of treatment. In addition to microbial contamination, water normally contains suspended solids, dissolved inorganic ions and organic compounds (mainly humic substances) which may affect the efficacy of solar photocatalysis. In this work the photocatalytic and photolytic inactivation rates of Escherichia coli using immobilised nanoparticle TiO 2 films were found to be significantly lower in surface water samples in comparison to distilled water. The presence of nitrate and sulphate anions spiked into distilled water resulted in a decrease in the rate of photocatalytic disinfection. The presence of humic acid, at the concentration found in the surface water, was found to have a more pronounced affect, significantly decreasing the rate of disinfection. Adjusting the initial pH of the water did not markedly affect the photocatalytic disinfection rate, within the narrow range studied.
Adsorption Science & Technology, 2002
Certain industries often produce mixtures of heavy metal ions in their waste products. Because of... more Certain industries often produce mixtures of heavy metal ions in their waste products. Because of the nature of heavy metal ions and the adsorption process, such metal ions can compete with each other for the sorption sites on an adsorbent during adsorption processes. In the present work, binary systems composed of copper, zinc and nickel ions were selected as examples of heavy metal ion mixtures and tested via batch adsorption processes using chicken feathers as an adsorbent. The uptake of individual metal ions was depressed by the presence of another. Thus, the uptake of copper ions from an initial copper ion solution of 20 ppm concentration was reduced from 0.042 mmol/g to ca. 0.019 mmol/g by the presence of a similar concentration of nickel ions. The Freundlich, Langmuir and Sips multi-component adsorption models were employed to predict the uptake of metal ions from binary metal ion solutions using constants obtained from adsorption isotherm models applied to single-solute syst...
Water
In keeping with the circular economy approach, reclaiming greywater (GW) is considered a sustaina... more In keeping with the circular economy approach, reclaiming greywater (GW) is considered a sustainable approach to local reuse of wastewater and a viable option to reduce household demand for freshwater. This study investigated the mineralization of total organic carbon (TOC) in GW using TiO2-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) in a custom-built stirred tank reactor. The combinations of H2O2, O3, and immobilized TiO2 under either dark or UVA irradiation conditions were systematically evaluated—namely TiO2/dark, O3/dark (ozonation), H2O2/dark (peroxidation), TiO2/UVA (photocatalysis), O3/UVA (Ozone photolysis), H2O2/UVA (photo-peroxidation), O3/TiO2/dark (catalytic ozonation), O3/TiO2/UVA (photocatalytic ozonation), H2O2/TiO2/dark, H2O2/TiO2/UVA, H2O2/O3/dark (peroxonation), H2O2/O3/UVA (photo-peroxonation), H2O2/O3/TiO2/dark (catalytic peroxonation), and H2O2/O3/TiO2/UVA (photocatalytic peroxonation). It was found that combining different treatment methods with UVA irradiation d...