
Sustainable water and wastewater processing
Our activities focus on addressing the global water-energy nexus challenges including developing innovative methods for sustainable desalination, wastewater processing and water recycling to provide clean water to address the rising global pressure for fresh water supply, energy recovery from wet waste or wastewater, and wastewater treatment process synthesis and real-time optimisation and control.

Membrane fouling by nano/microplastics from facial scrub. Left image: Filtration without nano/microplastics. Right image: Filtration with nano/microplastics. The results show significant fouling when nano/microplastics are present.

Pilot plant membrane filtration rig that students can access on the University of Surrey’s Chemical Engineering Fluor Pilot Plant.

A flowchart, with images of what the abattoir wastewater looks like at each treatment stage. Raw abattoir wastewater (red in colour) is treated via activated sludge to form a murky yellow mixed liquor. This is sent to a filtration unit to form a clear yellow filtrate. Finally, ozonation is used to treat the effluent to acceptable contaminant levels and form a clear water.

Images showing the microplastics that were extracted from facial scrubs by the research groups at Surrey.

A detailed schematic of the research done in hospital wastewater treatment, including the use of biological treatment, sonolysis, and membranes to create novel treatment systems.

Showing the research in hydrothermal carbonization wastewater treatment via membrane filtration.
Facilities
Pilot scale water and wastewater treatment and biomass processing
- FO/NF/RO membrane filtration systems
- 20kHz horn capable of flow through, treatment at high pressure and temperature for biomass.
Techno-economic and life cycle assessment
- SimaPro
- SuperPro Designer.
Analysis of scaling/precipitation
- PHREEQC program.
Techno-economic and real-time optimisation
- General algebraic modeling system (GAMS).
Bioreactor modelling
- COMSOL software
- MATLAB platform.
Energy labs
- Bench top water-splitting setup for hydrogen production
- Microbial electrosynthesis system (MES) for waste-water treatment.
Analytical instruments
- Inductively coupled plasma - optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES)
- Nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA)
- Total organic carbon (TOC)
- High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
- Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS)
- Low light camera
- Data colour spectrophotometer
- Potentiostat/galvanostat electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analyser
- Conductometer.
Bench scale water and wastewater and biomass treatment
- Hydrothermal carbonisation reactor owned by Antaco
- UF/NF/RO/FO membrane filtration systems
- Multifrequency ultrasound processing systems
- Biological digesters
- Sludge and waste water treatment.
Meet the team
Academic staff

Dr Bahman Amini Horri
Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering

Dr Madeleine Bussemaker
Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering

Dr Franjo Cecelja
Head of Department of Chemical and Process Engineering

Dr Ralph Chadeesingh
Senior Teaching Fellow

Dr Melis Duyar
Lecturer in Chemical and Process Engineering

Dr Siddharth Gadkari
Lecturer

Dr Judy Lee
Reader, Director of Learning and Teaching for Chemical and Process Engineering

Dr Michael Short
Lecturer of Chemical and Process Engineering

Professor Rex Thorpe
Professor of Chemical Engineering

Dr Dimitrios Tsaoulidis
Asst Professor (Lecturer) in Chemical & Process Engineering
Postgraduate research students
Read completed dissertations by our past students:
- Odour treatment in sewage treatment works by Behzad Haji Mirza Beigi
- Unlocking the full energy potential of sewage sludge by Nick Mills
- Advanced oxidation processes for the treatment of real slaughterhouse wastewater after a biological treatment by Pello Alfonso-Muniozguren
- Membrane fouling by nano/microplastics: Origin mechanisms and mitigation strategies by Marie Clemence Enfrin.

Bethany Campbell
Project: Characterisation, removal and recovery of organic contaminants in hydrothermal carbonization process water

Oliver Crossley
Project: Removal and recovery of inorganic components from hydrothermal carbonisation process water

George Chinedu Ezeanaka
Project: Water treatment

Ros Fomin
Project: Fouling behaviour of a membrane bioreactor system and the impact of different cleaning operations

Cyril Hachemi
Project: Comprehensive understanding of the impact of microplastics on membrane bioreactors

Mustapha Hamdan
Postgraduate Research Student

Junbin Huang
Project: CO2 reduction through microbial electrolysis system and chemicals upgrading

Mauro Lafratta
Project: Dynamic control of anaerobic digestion for flexible and sustainable generation in the water industry

Om Sabnis
MSc summer researcher

Tim Sidnell
Project: Ultrasonic degradation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances