Hadas Mamane

Tel Aviv University | TAU · Environmental Engineering Program; School of Mechanical Engineering

Common ultraviolet (UV) photodiodes or detectors for measuring the intensity of UV-light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in UV disinfection systems are costly. This study explores the potential of using low-cost UV-LEDs as photometers for monitoring UV intensity in water systems. Reverse LEDs (rLEDs) generate a small current proportional to the incident lig...

Waterborne diseases pose a significant public health challenge in the Global South, attributed to inadequate access to clean water, insufficient sanitation infrastructure, and poor water treatment systems. These factors contribute to the contamination of water sources with microbial pathogens, placing individuals at a heightened risk of contracting...

Huge discharge of different organic and inorganic waste compounds into water sources is the prime reason for water pollution. To protect the environment, appropriate biological treatment methods of wastewater with high removal efficacy are needed. To meet this end, indigenously available microbial consortiums were explored for their possible biorem...

This review explores circular economy principles in regard to ethanol production from paper-mill sludge. Environmental sustainability and renewability over fossil fuels make second generation ethanol an attractive energy source in a rapidly growing population and consumption world. Paper sludge (PS), a by-product of the pulp and paper (P&P) industr...

Emerging pollutants and a large volume of unused dyes from the textile industry have been contaminating water bodies. This work introduces a scalable approach to purifying water by the adsorption of Acid green 25 (AG), Crystal Violet (CV), and Sulfamethoxazole (SMA) from an aqueous solution by graphene oxide (GO) doped modified silica aerogel (GO-S...

The development of self-cleaning, biodegradable polymer-based membranes with anti-fouling properties has gained significant attention. Herein, a novel ultrafiltration membrane made of cellulose acetate blended with polycaprolactone (PCL) was fabricated using a straightforward, non-solvent-induced phase-separation technique. The optimized membrane s...

UV irradiation is an efficient tool for the disinfection of viruses in general and coronavirus specifically. This study explores the disinfection kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 variants wild type (similar to the Wuhan strain) and three variants (Alpha, Delta, and Omicron) by 267 nm UV-LED. All variants showed more than 5 logs average reduction in copy numb...

Antimicrobial and self-cleaning surface coatings are promising tools to combat the growing global threat of infectious diseases and related healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Although many engineered TiO2-based coating technologies are reporting antibacterial performance, the antiviral performance of these coatings has not been explored. Furt...

At least 2 billion people worldwide use drinking water sources that are contaminated with feces, causing waterborne diseases; poor sanitation, poor hygiene, and unsafe drinking water result in a daily death rate of more than 800 children under 5 years of age from diarrheal diseases. This study shows the feasibility of a novel method to nowcast feca...

A solvothermal self-made composite of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and commercially available titanium dioxide (TiO2) demonstrated the removal of commercial acid green-25 (AG-25) textile dye in a saline water matrix when activated by ultraviolet (UV) and visible light. The g-C3N4-TiO2 composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Nit...

Uridine contains the chromophore uracil, a base forming part of RNA. In the range 240–290 nm, the absorption spectra of uridine and DNA are very similar and correspond to the spectral inactivation sensitivity of almost all microorganisms. This makes the uridine (absorption maximum 262 nm) an ideal actinometer for determining the germicidal photon f...

We evaluated the removal capacity of a coupled microalgal–bacterial biofilm (CMBB) to eliminate three recalcitrant pharmaceuticals. The CMBB's efficiency, operating at different biofilm concentrations, with or without light, was compared and analyzed to correlate these parameters to pharmaceutical removal and their effect on the microorganism commu...

Soil aquifer treatment (SAT), as a gravity-based wastewater reuse process, is limited by oxygen availability to the microbial community in the soil. Using oxygen from enzymatic degradation of H2O2 to generate hyper-oxygen conditions can exceed solubility limitations associated with aeration, but little is known about the effect of hyper-oxygen cond...

The study of the interaction of light with photochemical and photobiological systems requires an accurate assessment of the incident photon flux. The determination of photon fluxes for various light sources (monochromatic and polychromatic) has an inherent advantage since the use of standard quantum yields for the actinometer assures that the photo...

Paper production and recycling result in large amounts of recycled paper sludge (RPS) that is currently being disposed of in very costly and unsustainable practices, raising the importance of developing green solutions for waste management. The use of nanocellulose (NC) as the next generation of materials has gained much attention due to its econom...

Common pretreatment methods for bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass are carried out under acidic conditions at high temperatures and result in formation of by-products, such as formic acid, levulinic acid, furfural and HMF (5-hydroxymethylfurfural). These by-products are known to have an inhibitory effect on yeasts, reducing yeast gr...

Long-term drip irrigation with treated wastewater (TWW) is known to enhance oxygen deficiency (hypoxia), especially in fine-textured soils. Hypoxia conditions around plant roots negatively affect growth and yield. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the response of lettuce grown in well-aerated (sandy) and poorly aerated (clayey) soils to surfac...

Wastewater treatment (WWT) is a process used to remove contaminants from wastewater, prevent pollution of water sources and improve sanitation condition. The treated effluent is reused mostly for irrigation purposes...

Here, we propose a low-cost, sustainable, and viable adsorbent (pine tree-derived biochar) to remove acid dyes such as acid violet 17 (AV), which is used in the silk dyeing industry. As a case study, the AV removal process was demonstrated using synthetic effluent and further as a proof of concept using real dye effluent produced from the Sirumugai...

Numerous aerogels are available in the scientific literature, however very few of them are in the market. Silicon, polymer, and carbon-based aerogels are commercially applied in various applications as construction, transportation, coating, day-lightning, oil, and gas. For water remediation purposes, very few materials are commercially available as...

Degradation of 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) and estrogenicity were examined in a novel oxidative bioreactor (OBR) that combines small bioreactor platform (SBP) capsules and UV-LED (ultraviolet light emission diode) simultaneously, using enriched water and secondary effluent. Preliminary experiments examined three UV-LED wavelengths—267, 279, and 286...

Lignocellulosic-based ethanol is a viable alternative to corn-based ethanol. However, the use of such feedstock is more complex than the use of sugar or starch due to the necessity for a pretreatment stage. Here we tested three pretreatment processes of oat straw: (1) submerged ozonation in water, (2) low temperature (40 °C) diluted sulphuric acid...

Indigo dye wastewater from blue denim-manufacturing industries poses a significant threat to the environment if not adequately treated before discharge to water bodies. Indigo dye residues in the process effluent have complex molecular structures relatively stable to light and heat and resistant to biodegradation, making affordable and straightforw...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have gained worldwide interest for their properties. CNCs are mostly produced by acid hydrolysis of cellulose-rich biomass, but its’ quantification is still complicated and tedious. Here, we describe a rapid method for the determination of CNCs concentration using Calcofluor White (CW) fluorescence dye. This method is...

Actinometers are physical or chemical systems that can be employed to determine photon fluxes. Chemical actinometers are photochemical systems with known quantum yields that can be employed to determine accurate photon fluxes for specific photochemical reactions. This review explores in detail several practical chemical actinometers (ferrioxalate,...

In view of water-resource depletion, treated wastewater can serve as an alternative source for crop irrigation. However, conventional wastewater-treatment plants are energy-intensive and costly to construct and operate, especially for lower middle-income countries. The present study focused on improving the quality of wastewater by incorporating a...

Wastewater treatment (WWT) process is used to prevent pollution of water sources, improves sanitation condition, and reuse the water (mostly for agricultural purposes). One of the main goals of wastewater treatment is removal of nutrients, such as nitrogen which exists in the form of ammonia in the sewage. Excessive nitrogen concentration in the ef...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have gained worldwide interest for their properties. CNCs are mostly produced by acid hydrolysis of cellulose-rich biomass, but its’ quantification is still complicated and tedious. Here, we describe a rapid method for the determination of CNCs concentration using Calcofluor White (CW) fluorescence dye. This method is...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have gained worldwide interest for their properties. CNCs are mostly produced by acid hydrolysis of cellulose-rich biomass, but its’ quantification is still complicated and tedious. Here, we describe a rapid method for the determination of CNCs concentration using Calcofluor White (CW) fluorescence dye. This method is...

Rising socioeconomic level and increasing popularity of e-commerce have dramatically increased the use of cardboard packaging materials, and consequent related recycling and wastes. Large amounts of sludge (up to 40% of input mass) is formed through the recycling process, with sludge solids that are very rich in cellulose fibers (~ 75% w/w). To dat...

The COVID-19 situation has raised the interest in the use of UV for prevention of viruses, specifically such from the Corona family. Light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) are an emerging UV source for disinfection. When compared to classical UV sources (i.e. mercury lamps) UV-LEDs allow design flexibility due to their small size and control of radiation...

Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection efficiency by low-pressure (LP) mercury lamp depends on the UV fluence (dose): the product of incident irradiance (fluence rate) and exposure time, with correction factors. Time–dose reciprocity may not always apply, as higher UV–LP inactivation of E. coli was obtained at a higher irradiance over shorter exposure time,...

Utilization of waste as feedstock for ethanol production

The textile industry is one of the largest in many low and middle-income countries, especially in Asia, second only to agriculture. Textile wastewater is discharged into the environment due to the lack of affordable and sustainable solutions to adsorb or remove the dye from the water. Biochar is generated by pyrolysis of organic material from plant...

UV light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs) are an emerging technology and a UV source for pathogen inactivation, however low UV-LED wavelengths are costly and have low fluence rate. Our results suggest that the sensitivity of human Coronavirus (HCoV-OC43 used as SARS-CoV-2 surrogate) was wavelength dependent with 267 nm ~ 279 nm > 286 nm > 297 nm. Other vi...

Microalgae applications are becoming more and more diverse, from wastewater treatment to biofuel and plastics production. Another promising and sustainable application is the removal of organic compound from drinking water and wastewater sources. This study focused on the removal of the iodinated contrast media, iohexol by the microalga Chlorella v...

UV light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs) are an emerging technology and a UV source for pathogen inactivation, however low UV-LED wavelengths are still expensive and of low fluence. Our results 27 suggest that the sensitivity of human Coronavirus was wavelength dependent with 267nm~279nm>286nm>297nm. UV LED with peak emission at ~286 nm could serve as an...

Advanced technologies, such as reverse osmosis (RO), allow the reuse of treated wastewater for direct or indirect potable use. However, even highly efficient RO systems produce ~10–15% highly contaminated concentrate as a byproduct. This wastewater RO concentrate (WWROC) is very rich in metal ions, nutrients, and hard-to-degrade trace organic compo...

UV light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) have emerged as a new technology for water disinfection. Multiwell plates are a common tool in biological research, but they have never been used for UVC/UVB-inactivation experiments of microorganisms. In this study, a novel, rapid and simple UVC/UVB-inactivation assay was developed for a UV-LED system using a mul...

Tertiary wastewater treatment could provide a reliable source of water for reuse. Amongst these types of wastewater treatment, deep-bed filtration of secondary effluents can effectively remove particles and organic matter; however, NH 4 + and NO 2 − are not easily removed. This study examined the feasibility of stimulating microbial activity using...

In this study, we present an innovative new bio-treatment approach for 17α-ethynyestradiol (EE2). Our solution for EE2 decontamination was accomplished by using the SBP (Small Bioreactor Platform) macro-encapsulation method for the encapsulation of two bacterial cultures, Rhodococcus zopfii (R. zopfii ) and Pseudomonas putida F1 (P. putida). Our re...

A successful attempt to degrade synthetic estrogen 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) is demonstrated via combining photocatalysis employing magnesium peroxide (MgO2)/low-pressure ultraviolet (LP-UV) treatment followed by biological treatment using small bioreactor platform (SBP) capsules. Reusable MgO2 was synthesized through wet chemical synthesis and ex...

Plastic products in municipal solid waste result in the extraction of phthalates in leachate that also contains large amounts of organic matter, such as humic substances, ammonia, metals, chlorinated organics, phenolic compounds, and pesticide residues. Phthalate esters are endocrine disruptors, categorized as a priority pollutant by the US Environ...

Hydrophobic aerogels were used to remove three types of persistent organic pollutants: pharmaceutical drugs (i.e. doxorubicin [DOX], paclitaxel [TAX]), phthalates (diethyl phthalate [DEP]), and hydrophilic rhodamine dye (RhB) from synthetic and real wastewaters, using Lumira granular aerogel from Cabot activated with EtOH (ET-GAG). The hydrophobic...

24 Today, two types of lamp systems dominate the UV disinfection industry: low-pressure 25 (LP) UV lamps and medium-pressure (MP) polychromatic lamps. Both lamp types have 26 their advantages and disadvantages in microorganism inactivation, with LP lamps being 27 cheaper, having longer life, and working at lower temperature, hence reducing fouling,...

Lignocellulosic waste (here municipal trimmings) is a promising sustainable feedstock for ethanol production, but requires costly and polluting pretreatment, often resulting in toxic by-products. Ozonation, nonpolluting, effective pretreatment method, is not used commercially due to high energy requirements of ozone production at high ozone doses n...

Today, two types of lamp systems dominate the UV disinfection industry: low-pressure (LP) UV lamps and medium-pressure (MP) polychromatic lamps. Both lamp types have their advantages and disadvantages in microorganism inactivation, with LP lamps being cheaper, having longer life, and working at lower temperature, hence reducing fouling, and MP lamp...

In this study, micrometer thick Ag‐TiO2 coatings were deposited in a single and facile step by spraying the precursor in an atmospheric pressure plasma jet with different concentrations of Ag nanoparticles. The homogenous distribution of Ag decreased the TiO 2 crystal size and increased the surface area. The coatings were characterized to be porous...

Ceramic-based photocatalytic membrane reactors (cPMRs) are becoming increasingly popular among researchers and will soon be seen on the water/wastewater-treatment market. This review provides a thorough analysis of the available data on cPMRs fabricated to date based on coating method, support and coating materials, membrane design, pore size and m...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have gained increased interest worldwide for their unique properties. CNC production by acid hydrolysis of cellulose-rich biomass is well established, but its' quantification is still complicated. In this study, a rapid method for the determination of CNC concentration using Calcofluor White (CW) fluorescence dye is de...

The conversion efficiency from sunlight to electricity, for both solar thermal and solar photovoltaic converters, is usually in the range of 10—30%. More than two thirds of the solar energy, collected with considerable effort and capital investment, is rejected back to the environment. We present an analysis of novel spectral beam splitting systems...

Herein, we demonstrate the fabrication of Bi(0)-doped bismuth oxyhalide solid solution films for the removal of trace organic pollutants (TrOPs) in water. With the advantage of a viscous AlOOH sol, very high loadings (75 wt %) of bismuth oxyhalides were embedded within the thin films and calcined at 500 °C to develop porous alumina composite coatin...

Soil columns simulating soil aquifer treatment (SAT), fed with synthetic secondary effluent by intermittent infiltration of flooding/drying cycles, were characterized for nitrogen and organic carbon removal, and microbial ecology and biokinetics. The columns differed in the concentration ratio of chemical oxygen demand (COD) to the summed NH4+, NO2...

The environmental impacts caused by Olive Mill Wastewater (OMWW) are a concern for both developing and developed countries. In this study, an ozone pretreatment combined with a fixed biomass bio-treatment using the Small Bioreactor Platform (SBP) capsules technology encasing a pure culture of a phenol-degrading OMWW isolate named Delftia EROSY was...

Alternative water-disinfection processes are needed due to the formation of harmful disinfection byproducts during traditional chlorination. Depth filtration using microfiltration membranes has the advantage of applying low transmembrane pressure. However, removal of small nanoparticles such as viruses cannot be based on size-exclusion or sieving d...

UV applied with H2O2 is a well-known Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) for degradation of trace organic compounds. However, the UV/H2O2 process has scarcely been documented as a disinfection method for brackish or seawater applications, or particularly as a potential RO biofouling control tool in varied treatment scenarios. The objective of this pap...