Khalid Bani-Melhem

• Research Associate Professor at Qatar University

Foods that support human health and longevity are becoming increasingly relevant as substitutes for or adjuncts to pharmacological drugs, either through direct consumption or incorporation into designer foods fortified with health‐promoting ingredients. Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) fruits, seeds, and pollen are a cornerstone of diverse food a...

Foods that support human health and longevity are becoming increasingly relevant as substitutes for or adjuncts to pharmacological drugs, either through direct consumption or incorporation into designer foods fortified with health‐promoting ingredients. Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) fruits, seeds, and pollen are a cornerstone of diverse food a...

Grey water (GW) reclamation offers a viable solution to address water scarcity. However, the variation in its quality and quantity makes treatment options big challenges. In the last years, Electrocoagulation (EC) has emerged as an effective method for treating GW. This study assessed the performance of a lab-scale EC reactor in treating GW with hi...

Foods that support human health and longevity are becoming increasingly relevant as substitutes for or adjuncts to pharmacological drugs, either through direct consumption or incorporation into designer foods fortified with health‐promoting ingredients. Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) fruits, seeds, and pollen are a cornerstone of diverse food a...

The food and pharmaceutical industries have utilized royal jelly, an alternative medicinal food, as a natural pharmaceutical product since ancient times. Royal jelly has a unique remarkable composition containing lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, hormones, and phenolic compounds. The rapidly expanding functional food market has c...

Jordan's energy sector faces significant challenges due to rising fuel prices, making the exploration of local energy resources crucial. The abundant oil shale deposits in Wadi Thamad present a promising opportunity. Since Wadi Thamad oil shale has never been studied before, this research focuses on the Wadi Thamad basin near Madaba, Jordan, aiming...

This study aimed to explore the impact of novel method in improving the functionality and nutritional value of lentil-quinoa protein complexes. The method involved manipulating protein interactions through pH shifting and the addition of trehalose, ultimately enhancing water solubility, digestibility, and the functionality. Fluorescence, ultraviole...

Remarkably toxic, phenol requires efficient elimination from water. This study investigates the utilization of solid waste generated by stone-cutting factories for extracting phenol from wastewater. The solid waste underwent thermal treatment at 105 °C for 3 h for characterization. Batch adsorption experiments systematically assessed parameters lik...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are present in wastewater from various sources like industry, roads, and household waste. They are difficult to remove due to their low concentration, stability, and ability to combine with other organic substances. The study aimed to address membrane fouling in the submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) used f...

In the last years, the electrocoagulation (EC) process has been widely used as a potential technique for grey water treatment. However, only a few studies have focused on treating highly loaded GW (HLGW) by EC. In this study, the EC technique was used to compare iron and mild steel electrodes for the treatment of HLGW under different current densit...

Greywater (GW) treatment by the electrocoagulation (EC) technique alone might not meet the required standards in terms of pollutant removal, specifically when GW contains high loads of pollutants. In this preliminary study, a sand filtration (SF) unit was integrated with the EC technique as a pretreatment step to enhance the EC process for treating...

The constant need for sacrificial electrodes is one of the limitations of applying the EC in wastewater treatment. Accordingly, this study proposes a sustainable alternative in reusing scrap metallic wastes as electrode materials. Four different types of metallic wastes (beverage cans, used aluminum (Al) foil, scrap iron, and scrap mild steel) are...

Dear Colleagues, Appointed as Guest Editor, we have launched a new special issue entitled "Combined Electrocoagulation Systems as an Efficient and Cost-Effective Treatment Process for Organic/Inorganic Pollutants Removal from Water/Wastewater" in "Frontiers in Environmental Science (IF: 4.58, Q1)". Guest Editors: Prof. Dr. Zakaria Al-Qodah, Milad...

A novel approach using the integration of electrocoagulation, with one or more treatment processes has been recently practiced to improve the removal of colloidal and non-biodegradable pollutants. Several treatment processes including adsorption, chemical coagulation, magnetic field, reverse osmosis, and membrane filtration have been combined with...

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-buil...

Paper mill sludge (PMS) can be efficiently utilized to produce fuels and chemicals. However, wastewater is usually generated during the de-ashing step of the PMS for fibrous materials recovery. Per process requirements, the wastewater stream must be treated which results in an increase in the overall process production cost. Therefore, this researc...

Methane and carbon dioxide are of major concern as greenhouse gases; the landfills have the problem of controlling these gases. Al Akaider in Jordan is the second biggest landfill suffers controlling gases as it lacks a cover design system. In this work, the main goal is to investigate the appropriateness of amended expansive clayey soil in Irbid a...

Olive mills wastewater (OMW) causes a serious environmental problem in the olive oil producing countries. This is due to its high organic matter content (COD), acidic pH values, suspended solids and high content of phytotoxic and antibacterial phenolic compounds. In this study, titanium dioxide (TiO2) as an adsorbent to reduce the COD value of the...

This study assesses ablution gray water and its treatment at JUST (Jordan University of Science and Technology). A submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR-pilot plant) is used to treat ablution water that generated from mosque at JUST. The inflowing gray water is conveyed to sedimentation tank, aerated for biological processing, and then ultrafiltrated...

The combination of electrocoagulation with another process is a promising approach to enhance the removal efficiency of water pollutants. For instance, free radical-assisted electrocoagulation is a new combination showing higher performance. There are different combinations depending on the free radical source. This article reviews free radical-ass...

The combination of electrocoagulation with another process is a promising approach to enhance the removal efficiency of water pollutants. For instance, free radical-assisted electrocoagulation is a new combination showing higher performance. There are different combinations depending on the free radical source. This article reviews free radical-assist...

The combination of electrocoagulation with another process is a promising approach to enhance the removal efficiency of water pollutants. For instance, free radical-assisted electrocoagulation is a new combination showing higher performance. There are different combinations depending on the free radical source. This article reviews free radical-ass...

During the last few years, the municipal solid waste (MSW) has increased dramatically in Jordan as a result of the rapid population growth.

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 th...

In this study, cadmium ions, Cd(II), were removed from aqueous solutions using Ballota Undulata. Experimental data were exploited for kinetic and thermodynamic assessments related to adsorption processes. The different variables affecting the adsorption capacity such as pH, contact time, temperature, adsorbent particle size and mass of adsorbent ha...

A series of batch lab-scale experiments were performed to investigate the performance of dead phosphorylated algal biomass of Spirogyra species for the bioadsorption of Cu+2 ions from aqueous solutions. FT-IR and SEM analysis were performed to characterize the phosphorylated and raw algae. The SEM analysis indicated that the phosphorus content incr...

A novel submerged membrane electro-bioreactor (SMEBR) was investigated to improve the membrane filterability and reduce the disturbances of the volumetric loading rates by applying an electrical direct current (DC) field. The strategy of this study was based on operating the SMEBR for 53 days at a constant transmembrane pressure. For the comparison...

he performance of a submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) system for grey water (GW) treatment was evaluated in terms of effluent quality and membrane fouling. The SMBR was operated for 42 days at constant transmembrane pressure (13 kPa) in six consecutive stages. A hollow fibre ultrafiltration membrane module (ZW-1) was used to treat real GW with t...

The performance of a submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) system for grey water (GW) treatment was evaluated in terms of effluent quality and membrane fouling. The SMBR was operated for 42 days at constant transmembrane pressure (13 kPa) in six consecutive stages. A hollow fibre ultrafiltration membrane module (ZW-1) was used to treat real GW with...

The aim of the present work was to investigate experimentally the reduction of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) levels from baker’s yeast wastewater (BYW) using batch electrocoagulation (EC) treatment process. An electrocoagulation unit with six iron electrodes was designed to achieve this treatment task. The effect of several operational parameters in...

Biodegradation of olive mill wastewater (OMW) toxic constituents was investigated using thermophilic bacteria. Three types of thermophilic bacteria were isolated from olive mills solid waste (Jift) and tested their ability to detoxify OMW. These thermophiles, namely Bacillus polymaxa JT6, Bacillus Maceramns JT7 and Bacillus popilliae JT8, can grow...

The main objective of the present study was the removal of heavy metal ions, namely Cu2+, Cr3+, Ni2+ and Zn2+, from metal plating wastewater using electrocoagulation technique. An electro-reactor was used with six carbon steel electrodes of monopolar configurations. Three of the electrodes were designated as cathodes meanwhile the other three as an...

The present work studied experimentally the variations of some characteristics of the mixed liquor solution in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) under the effect of electrocoagulation (EC) technique. Unlike conventional methods, electrocoagulation was performed using cylindrical perforated iron electrodes to achieve a good distribution of the app...

Chemical coagulation is widely used for enhancing the performance of various water and wastewater treatment systems, including membrane filtration processes such as submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) units. However, the addition of chemicals to the wastewater may result in production of undesirable chemical by-products or increase the volume of s...

Grey water from a university facilities building in Cairo, Egypt was analysed for basic wastewater parameters. Mean concentrations were calculated based on grab samples over a 16-month period. Values for chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nutrients exceeded values reported in a number of other studies of grey water, while coliform counts were also hi...

The objective of the present study was to investigate experimentally the removal of total suspended solid (TSS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of wastewater from paper industries by electrocoagulation techniques solely, or with the aid of chemical flocculants. Electro-coagulation experiments were carried out using iron electrodes and either iron...

This paper presents the results of the performance of a novel technology called submerged membrane electro-bioreactor (SMEBR). The SMEBR treats wastewater by combining membrane filtration, electrokinetic phenomena, and biological processes in one reactor, and improves treatment performance while helping to control membrane fouling. The newly design...

A novel Submerged Membrane Electro-Bioreactor (SMEBR) was developed to treat wastewater and control the problem of membrane fouling. To validate the new design, experimental work was achieved in a few phases. This paper describes the design constraints and criteria of the new developed SMEBR system, and shows the results of the performance of the S...

The occurrence of membrane fouling is still the major factor hindering the wide-spread use of membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology. Furthermore, enhanced biological phosphorous removal would be limited in MBRs applications. The main objective of this study was to develop the Submerged Membrane Electro-Bioreactor (SMEBR), for decreasing the fouling...

In this study, parametric sensitivity analysis using dimesionless sensitivity analysis and temperature polarization was used to investigate the sensitivity of the mass flux to the different parameters associated with the air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) process for pure water production. The model of AGMD used in this study is the approximate m...

In order to enhance the performance of the vacuum membrane distillation process in desalination, i.e. to get more flux, it is necessary to study the effect of operating parameters on the yield of distillate water. Simple techniques including the normalized dimensionless sensitivity factor and temperature polarization coefficient as well as the solu...

Vacuum membrane distillation, like any membrane distillation process, is a thermally driven process in which the convective mass transfer is the dominant mechanism for mass transfer. The driving force is maintained by applying vacuum at the downstream side to keep the pressure at this side below the equilibrium vapor pressure (see Fig. 1), The memb...

Membrane distillation is a thermally driven mass transfer in which a porous hydrophobic membrane separates two liquid phases and a temperature difference is maintained as the driving force. In this study, the technique of direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process, where the liquid phases are in direct contact with both sides of the membra...