Water and Chemical Processes
One of the great contributions of engineers to civilisation is the supply of clean water to homes, recreation, businesses and industry, and the safe and sanitary disposal of liquid effluents (wastewater) there from. The science and engineering of this activity involves mathematics, computing, biology, chemistry and physics.
You will find civil and chemical engineers working together in this field and further information on the themed research centres within these departments is listed below:
Centre for Environmental and Health Engineering
Members: Chair in Water Systems Engineering, Professor S Khu Professor B Lloyd Dr S Ouki Mrs C Jones Dr Devendra Saroj Dr Katrina Charles Dr Kathy Pond Dr Steve Pedley John Elliott Dr Prashant Kumar Ms Lu Yang
The Centre for Environmental and Health Engineering (CEHE) undertakes research projects covering the entire water cycle. These encompass water resources surveillance, modelling and management, water treatment, supply and regulation, wastewater treatment, disposal and safe reuse, and pollution control and waste management. CEHE is a designated World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for the Protection of Water Quality and Human Health (with the Robens Centre for Public and Environmental Health), and has recently been invited to join the UNICEF WASH cluster group of relief agencies as a centre of excellence in water and sanitation. CEHE provides support to overseas governments through international agencies (WHO, PAHO) and relief organisations (such as Oxfam and MSF). Research and training projects have been completed by CEHE staff in at least 45 countries. Strong contacts are also maintained with UK and European water utilities (notably Thames Water, Southern Water and Stadtwerke Karlsruhe).
Find out more in the videos from our Queens Anniversary Award winning Researchers:
• Professor Soon-Thiam Khu talks about the Queen's Anniversary Prize research
• Why is studying water important?
• Portable water testing kit
The Robens Centre for Public and Environmental Health (RCPEH)
MEMBERS: Dr Kathy Pond Dr Steve Pedley John Elliott Kali Johal Pauline Baker
The RCPEH has a strong research profile in the area of water quality and human health, with funding received directly, and through collaborations, from the NERC, EPSRC, DFID, Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation, SPLASH Consortium, the UK technology Strategy Board, European Union, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Leverhulme Trust, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the UK Environment Agency, and the UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The outputs from these projects have provided support to UK Government agencies and to UN organizations, as well as Government agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in many developing countries.
The Centre has extensive expertise in the scientific and management aspects of water and environmental monitoring and assessment. It plays an active role in the promotion of improved monitoring of resources in the UK and overseas. A significant part of the work of the Centre is aiding capacity building for water quality monitoring and assessment. The type of activity ranges from the provision of bespoke in-country training to small NGOs to the design, equipping and management of national water quality analysis laboratories. The Centre also provides services to the UK building services and water industry through its analytical laboratory, which is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to ISO 17025:2005.
The RCPEH is a WHO Collaborating Centre for the Protection of Water Quality and Human Health.
PRISE
Members: Dr F Cecelja Dr NF Kirkby Professor RB Thorpe Dr A Yang
Process integration and systems analysis for sustainability of resources and energy efficiency are carried out within the Centre for Process and Information Systems Engineering (PRISE). PRISE, supported through industrial membership, fosters interactions with R&D centres around the world. Notable successes in this area include design technology for chemical reactors and chemical process flowsheets, optimisation solvers, the knowledge management h-TechSight and a long array of synthesis tools.
Centre for Osmosis Research and Applications (CORA)
Members: Professor AO Sharif Dr F Cecelja Dr Aidong Yang Dr Ali Hosseini
The Centre is well equipped with state-of-the art experimental facilities for desalination and membrane separation processes, and high-speed computational facilities. The Centre’s most recent activities have resulted in the discovery of the novel Manipulated Osmosis Technology (MOT) which addresses most of the key shortcomings and limitations of the Reverse Osmosis (RO) membrane separation, thermal desalination methods (MSF, MED, VC), water treatment of cooling towers,
secondary oil recovery of water injection/flooding operations and other technologies used commonly in the desalination of seawater and brackish water. The innovations of CORA in the area of desalination and renewable power generation have been commercialised through a university spin-out company, Surrey Aquatechnology Ltd, which was merged with the AIM-listed company Modern Water plc in 2007, and since then three commercial plants have been installed in Southern Europe and the Middle East.
A list of CORA Publications, Patents, Keynotes, Invited Lecturers and feature Articles can be found here.
