Faisal I Hai

University of Wollongong | UOW · School of Civil Mining and Environmental Engineering

We consider a simple 'toy model' for the spontaneous combustion of industrial compost stockpiles. The model is a scalar non-linear differential equation which can be analysed using techniques taught in an introductory subject on non-linear ordinary differential equations. This model was used as a case study in a third year subject. We discuss how s...

Campylobacter jejuni and coli are two main pathogenic species inducing diarrhoeal diseases in humans, which are responsible for the loss of 33 million lives each year. Current Campylobacter infections are mainly monitored by clinical surveillance which is often limited to individuals seeking treatment, resulting in under-reporting of disease preval...

Microplastics as vectors for contaminants in the environment is becoming a topic of public interest. Microplastics have been found to actively adsorb heavy metals, per-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and polybrominated diether...

Using waste-activated sludge as a source for non-axenic sulfate-reducing bacterial (SRB) granules, this study developed an innovative bioconcrete with 1% and 2% SRB granules. The mechanical properties (AS 1012.9 and AS 1012.21) and self-healing performance of bioconcrete was systematically examined. The 28-d compressive strength of bioconcrete samp...

The frequent detection of antibiotics in the surface water bodies increases concerns due to their harmful effect on the biota. In this study, the potential of standalone membrane distillation (MD) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme assisted MD treatment (MDHRP) was explored for the removal of 13 antibiotics. A standalone MD system achieved 95...

Improving the performance of direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) for liquid desiccant regeneration has attracted increasing attention. This paper presents multi-objective optimization of a DCMD regenerator to maximize its regeneration capacity (RC) and thermal efficiency (TE) simultaneously when treating a 25–30 wt.% lithium chloride desicc...

Regular monitoring and timely repair of concrete cracks are required to minimise further deterioration. Self‐healing of cracks has been proposed as an alternative to the crack maintenance procedures. One of the proposed techniques is to use axenic cultures to exploit microbial induced calcite precipitation (MICP). However, such healing agents are n...

The influence of operating parameters (i.e. membrane surface area and water flux) and membrane fouling on FO nutrient retention was examined. A higher water flux and larger membrane surface area significantly improved total ammonia nitrogen retention, owing to the uncoupling of solute and solvent flux and shorter filtration time, respectively. Phos...

Microplastics (MP) have become a major emerging class of pollutants representing significant eco-toxicological risks for ecosystems and marine environments. The aim of this study was to identify, classify and quantify MP present in both road dust and stormwater samples. A significantly higher level of MPs within road dust samples was detected from...

With increasing concerns about public health and the development of molecular techniques, new detection tools and the combination of existing approaches have increased the abilities of pathogenic bacteria monitoring by exploring new biomarkers, increasing the sensitivity and accuracy of detection, quantification, and analyzing various genes such as...

Membrane fouling is a major challenge of membrane distillation when employed as a regenerator in liquid desiccant air-conditioning systems. The present work investigated the impacts of feed temperature and flow velocity on the occurrence of membrane fouling using a bench-scale direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) system to regenerate a 27.5...

Purpose of Review The depletion of fossil reserves and environmental challenges associated with fossil fuels are major drivers of the search for sustainable renewable energy sources. Bioethanol production from macroalgae is one of the promising alternatives to reduce use of fossil fuels and achieve energy security and ecological sustainability. The...

Applications of membranes in water and wastewater treatment, desalination, as well as other purification processes, have become more widespread over the past few decades [...]

Groundwater is the dominant source of freshwater in many countries around the globe, and the deterioration in its quality by contaminants originating from anthropogenic sources raises serious concern. In this study, a scenario where groundwater is contaminated by acid mine drainage (AMD) from mining activities and/or sewage was envisaged, and the p...

This review critically analyses the chemical and physical parameters that influence the occurrence of opportunistic pathogens in the drinking water distribution system, specifically in premise plumbing. A comprehensive literature review reveals significant impacts of water age, disinfectant residual (type and concentration), temperature, pH, and pi...

Microplastics (MPs) pollution in the water environment is recognized as an important environmental risk to the water environment. Among the diverse sources of MPs pollution, road dust is a major contributor to the water environment via stormwater runoff that mainly originates from degradation of vehicle tyres, road marking paints, polymer-modified...

While cleaning wastewater, biological wastewater treatment processes such as membrane bioreactors (MBR) produce a significant amount of sludge that requires costly management. In the oxic-settling-anoxic (OSA) process, sludge is retained for a temporary period in side-stream reactors with low oxygen and substrate, and then it is recirculated to the...

Anaerobic co-digestion of primary sludge with two types of drinking water treatment sludge (DWTS), namely iron- or aluminum-rich DWTS (Fe- or Al-DWTS) were systematically evaluated by biochemical methane potential tests, kinetic modelling, downstream process parameters and microbial community analysis. Specific methane yields decreased approximatel...

Pollution and increasing water demand, especially for agriculture, put severe stress on freshwater sources, and as a result, there is progressive deficit in the global water supply and severe water scarcity is projected in the coming decades. Discharges from domestic, industrial and agricultural activities are potential sources of water pollution,...

The presence of (nano)microplastics in domestic wastewater and their subsequent release to the aquatic environment via the discharge of treated sewage has raised significant concerns. Previous studies have also identified their excessive accumulation in sewage sludge. Anaerobic digestion is one of the most used sludge stabilization methods in waste...

This study investigated the degradation of five trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) by integrated direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) and UV photolysis. Specifically, the influence of inorganic ions including halide, nitrate, and carbonate on the performance of the DCMD-UV process was evaluated. TrOC degradation improved in the presence of d...

Liquid desiccant cooling (LDC) systems are being widely considered as a promising alternative for energy savings and the regeneration is one of the most significant processes of the LDC systems. This paper presents a direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) regenerator for liquid desiccants regeneration of LDC systems and fresh water production...

The persistent nature and low biodegradability of a large number of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) reduce effectiveness of their removal by conventional wastewater treatments. In this context, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), such as photolysis, photocatalysis, ozonation, Fenton process, anodic oxidation, sonolysis and wet air oxidation, ha...

For the first time, an osmotic microbial fuel cell (OsMFC) was employed for simultaneous hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] removal, organic contaminant removal, energy production, and water reclamation. In this system, draw solutions were prepared from 0 to 1 M NaCl mixed with 12 mg/L Cr(VI). Cr(VI) reduction and power generation at different pH were st...

This chapter reviews the performance of membrane bioreactors (MBR) for the removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewater. Many factors affect pharmaceuticals removal by MBR. The factors include physicochemical characteristics of the pharmaceuticals and MBR operational parameters. The presence of a membrane allows various adsorption mechanisms for phar...

Performance of an enzymatic membrane bioreactor (EMBR) equipped with either an ultrafiltration (UF) or a nanofiltration (NF) membrane was explored for the degradation of a set of 29 chemically diverse trace organic contaminants (TrOCs). The NF membrane provided effective retention (90-99%) of TrOCs within the NF-EMBR. On the other hand, partial ret...

In this review, we present the environmental perspectives of the viruses and antiviral drugs related to SARS-CoV-2. The present review paper discusses occurrence, fate, transport, susceptibility, and inactivation mechanisms of viruses in the environment as well as environmental occurrence and fate of antiviral drugs, and prospects (prevalence and o...

Coupling of membrane distillation with bioreactors containing enzymes such as ‘laccase’ forms an enzymatic membrane bioreactor resulting in complete retention of both trace organic contaminants and enzyme, facilitating simultaneous trace organic contaminants degradation. Integration of enzymatic membrane bioreactor and ultraviolet photolysis may re...

Whole-cell WRF and their extracellular ligninolytic enzymes have been shown to remove a wide range of PhACs. Whole-cell WRF may be more effective as compared to extracellular crude and purified enzymes given that in the whole-cell preparations all kinds of enzymes (intracellular as well as extracellular) can participate. The performance of crude an...

The global demand of lithium is rising steadily, and many industrially advanced countries may find it hard to secure an uninterrupted supply of lithium for meeting their manufacturing demands. Thus, innovative processes for lithium recovery from a wide range of natural reserves should be explored for meeting the future demands. In this study, a nov...

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is an industrial chemical that has been widely adopted for various industrial applications, including water and wastewater treatment. Currently, the majority of H2O2 is being produced through the anthraquinone oxidation process, which is disadvantageous due to the requirement of toxic raw materials and high energy input. Re...

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), such as photolysis, photocatalysis, ozonation, Fenton process, anodic oxidation, sonolysis, and wet air oxidation, have been investigated extensively for the removal of a wide range of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs). A standalone AOP may not achieve complete removal of a broad group of TrOCs. When combined,...

Laccase enzyme from white-rot fungi is a potential biocatalyst for the oxidation of emerging contaminants (ECs), such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals and steroid hormones. This study aims to develop a three-step platform to treat ECs: (i) enzyme production, (ii) enzyme concentration and (iii) enzyme application. In the first step, solid culture and...

Correction for ‘Emerging investigator series: phosphorus recovery from municipal wastewater by adsorption on steelmaking slag preceding forward osmosis: an integrated process’ by Biplob Kumar Pramanik et al. , Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , 2020, DOI: 10.1039/d0ew00187b.

Phosphorus is a critical non-renewable mineral essential for sustainable crop production. On the other hand, it is a primary cause of eutrophication in natural water bodies. Hence, a pragmatic approach that allows wastewater treatment plants to efficiently recover phosphorus from wastewater is needed. In this study, we investigated phosphorus recov...

Laccase-catalysed degradation is a promising technology for the degradation of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs). However, depending on their physicochemical properties (e.g., chemical structures), non-phenolic TrOCs appear to be resistant to laccase-catalysed degradation, thus requiring an additional treatment process. In this study, performance...

High retention membrane bioreactors (HR-MBR) combine a high retention membrane separation process such as membrane distillation, forward osmosis, or nanofiltration with a conventional activated sludge (CAS) process. Depending on the physicochemical properties of the trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) as well as the selected high retention membrane...

Strategically important elements are those that are vital to advanced manufacturing, low carbon technologies and other growing industries. Ongoing depletion and supply risks to these elements are a critical concern, and thus, recovery of these elements from low-grade ores and brines has generated significant interest worldwide. Among the strategica...

In this study, long-term performance of a persulfate (PS)-assisted direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process was examined for the treatment of secondary treated effluent spiked with a mixture of micropollutants including three pesticides and nine pharmaceuticals. A stand-alone DCMD (‘control’) was also operated under identical operating c...

This work aimed to evaluate the enrichment of lithium (Li) from a simulated salt lake brine by using an integrated nanofiltration (NF) and membrane distillation (MD) process. Two types of NF membranes, namely NF90 and NF270, were employed to compare their performances for Li and magnesium (Mg) rejection under various operating conditions. In the pr...

Less than 3% of water on the earth is categorized as freshwater. Rapid urbanization, population increase and climate change have created significant burden on the limited reserve of freshwater. Hence, water reuse is critical to secure the future water demand for domestic, industrial and agricultural activities. Treated effluent from the conventiona...

Practical design problems to complement the concepts communicated throughout the book are presented and discussed in this chapter.

This chapter reviews current and new technologies for the removal of emerging trace organic contaminants (TrOC) from wastewater for safe reuse. In particular, it compares the relative performance of membrane bioreactors (MBR) with other conventional biological processes. It is shown that MBR has many intrinsic advantages over other methods leading...

The world’s oceans are entering a new phase of large-scale industrialisation. Countries around the world are embracing the idea of pursuing new and innovative development opportunities in their marine jurisdictions. At the centre of this new ‘Blue’ Economy lies a focus on technical and technological innovations. These innovations are designed to ta...

We investigated the effect of draw solution type on the forward osmosis (FO) performance for enriching nutrients from anaerobically treated dairy manure (ATDM) followed by chemical precipitation for phosphorus recovery as struvite crystal. The FO membrane significantly rejected COD (>97%) and phosphate (>98%) whereas there was only 70%–73% and 73%–...

The degradation of diclofenac (DCF), trimethoprim (TMP), carbamazepine (CBZ), and sulfameth-oxazole (SMX) by laccase from Trametes versicolor was investigated. Experiments were conducted using the pharmaceuticals individually, or as a mixture at different initial concentrations (1.25 and 5 mg/L each). The initial enzymatic activity of all the treat...

The activated sludge process is widely used to treat both municipal sewage and a variety of industrial wastewaters. We investigate the steady-state behaviour of an activated sludge process. We use the activated sludge model number one, an internationally accepted model, to describe the biochemical, biological, and physical-chemical phenomena that o...

The forward osmosis (FO) membrane process has recently established its potential as an alternative option to traditional membrane processes for producing clean water and recovering nutrients from anaerobically treated wastewater streams. However, organic fouling of membrane leads to reduced flux, and, thus, reduced amount of the extractable resourc...

Membrane technology has a wide range of applications in upstream and downstream bioprocessing of industrial products. Due to the increased interest in the development of continuous bioprocessing units, bioreactors coupled to a membrane separation process have been extensively assessed in the last decade, showing incredible potential for its applica...

A two-step sidestream process was investigated for nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) recovery from digested sludge centrate. In the first step, a dual-chamber microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) was used for N recovery on the cathode. In the second step, P was recovered as solid precipitates by the addition of Ca2+ or Mg2+ salts in the anodic effluent...

Before wastewaters can be released into the environment, they must be treated to reduce the concentration of organic pollutants in the effluent stream. There is a growing concern as to whether wastewater treatment plants are able to effectively reduce the concentration of micropollutants that are also contained in their influent streams. We investi...

This study systematically compares the performance of ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) based enzymatic membrane bioreactors (EMBRs) for the degradation of five micropollutants, namely atrazine, carbamazepine, sulfamethoxazole, diclofenac and oxybenzone to elucidate the impact of effective membrane retention of micropollutants on their d...

This review examines the potential of anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) to serve as the core technology for simultaneous recovery of clean water, energy, and nutrient from wastewater. The potential is significant as AnMBR treatment can remove a board range of trace organic contaminants relevant to water reuse, convert organics in wastewater to...

This study examined the occurrence of 49 micropollutants in reclaimed water and Silver Perch (Bidyanus bidyanus) living in a reclaimed water reservoir. The numbers of micropollutants detected in reclaimed water, Silver Perch liver, and Silver Perch flesh were 20, 23, and 19, respectively. Concentrations of all micropollutants in reclaimed water, ex...

Wastewater treatment allows for the safe disposal of municipal and industrial wastewater to protect public health and the ecosystem[...]

Occurrence of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in marine ecosystems has been confirmed in recent studies. These PhACs include human pharmaceuticals, veterinary medicines and those used in aquaculture . Levels of PhACs in the marine environment are suspected to rise in future due to the increase in anthropogenic activities. This chapter cri...

The fouling propensity of digested sludge centrate, and the effectiveness of membrane flushing, air-scouring, and ultrasonication for physical cleaning were systematically evaluated. Accelerated fouling conditions were applied to simulate the long-term and intensive pre-concentration scenario that is required for phosphorus recovery from digested s...

This study assessed the performance and key challenges associated with the integration of forward osmosis (FO) and anaerobic digestion for wastewater treatment and resource recovery. Using a thin film composite polyamide FO membrane, maximising the pre-concentration factor (i.e. system water recovery) resulted in the enrichment of organics and sali...

In this study, a direct contact membrane distillation (MD) unit was integrated with an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) to simultaneously recover energy and produce high quality water for reuse from wastewater. Results show that AnMBR could produce 0.3-0.5L/g CODaddedbiogas with a stable methane content of approximately 65%. By integrating MD...

Carbamazepine (CBZ), a pharmaceutical compound, has been proposed as an anthropogenic marker to assess water quality due to its persistence in conventional treatment plants and widespread presence in water bodies. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review on sources and occurrences of CBZ in water bodies, as well as toxicological effect...

This book is about important relevant recent research topics in sustainable aquaculture practices. A critical assessment of the sustainable finishing methods and the aspect of sustainable aquaculture feed is presented in this volume. A special focus has been given to socio-economic and environmental assessment of aquaculture practices and analysis...

This study investigated the influence of inorganic salts on enzymatic activity and the removal of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) by crude laccase from the white-rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatus. A systematic analysis of 15 cations and anions from common inorganic salts was presented. Laccase activity was not inhibited by monovalent cations (i.e....

In this study, we demonstrate the potential of an osmotic membrane bioreactor (OMBR) – membrane distillation (MD) hybrid system for simultaneous wastewater reuse and seawater desalination. A stable OMBR water flux of approximately 6 L m-2 h-1 was achieved when using MD to regenerate the seawater draw solution. Water production by the MD process was...

A novel membrane distillation-enzymatic membrane bioreactor (MD-EMBR) system was developed for efficient degradation of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs). Degradation of five TrOCs, namely carbamazepine, oxybenzone, diclofenac, atrazine and sulfamethoxazole was examined using two commercially available laccases (from Trametes versicolor and Asperg...

This study investigated the impact of sulphur content on the performance of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) with an emphasis on the biological stability, contaminant removal, and membrane fouling. Removal of 38 trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) that are ubiquitously present in municipal wastewater by AnMBR was evaluated. Results show that...

Organohalogen compounds are ubiquitously detected in wastewater and wastewater-impacted waterbodies because they are resistant to bacterial degradation and thus pass through conventional wastewater treatment systems. This raises significant concern about their potential harmful impact on aquatic organisms and even human. Fungal laccase (EC 1.10.3.2...

Pharmaceuticals are ubiquitously detected in wastewater and wastewater-impacted waterbodies because they are resistant to bacterial degradation and thus pass through conventional wastewater treatment systems. This raises significant concern about their potential harmful impact on aquatic organisms and even human. Fungal laccase (EC 1.10.3.2) can de...

In previous studies we developed an enzymatic bioreactor coupled with an ultrafiltration (UF) membrane, which prevented enzyme washout, thereby allowing continuous enzymatic degradation of pharmaceuticals. Moreover, some resistant compounds such as naproxen and salicylic acid were retained by enzyme gel layer formed on membrane surface, subsequentl...

This study evaluated micropollutants removal and membrane fouling behaviour of a hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor-membrane bioreactor (MBBR-MBR) system at four different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) (24, 18, 12 and 6h). The results revealed that HRT of 18h was the optimal condition regarding the removal of most selected micropollutants. As the...

A high retention enzymatic bioreactor was developed by coupling membrane distillation with an enzymatic bioreactor (MD-EMBR) to investigate the degradation of 13 phenolic and 17 non-phenolic trace organic contaminants (TrOCs). TrOCs were effectively retained (90–99%) by the MD membrane. Furthermore, significant laccase-catalyzed degradation (80–99%...

The oxic-settling-anoxic (OSA) process, which involves an aerobic tank attached to oxygen- and substrate-deficient external anoxic reactors, minimizes sludge production in biological wastewater treatment. In this study, the microbial community structure of OSA was determined. Principal coordinate analysis showed that among the three operational fac...