Category: environmental engineering

Adsorption processes offer promise for treating dye wastewater

December 11, 2023

Dye wastewater presents challenges both in terms of toxicity and organic pollutant load. Toxicity of dyes hampers conventional biological wastewater treatment. Biosorption offers a path for reducing toxicity of dye wastewater prior to cleanup of effluent by activated carbon. An adsorption-based process bypassing biological treatment assures process robustness and reliability. Potential reuse of the spent … More Adsorption processes offer promise for treating dye wastewater

Things that I learned from my UROP project

July 18, 2023

My first research project was in using seaweed to uptake and adsorb copper ions in water under ammonium ion interference. Basically, the task was to show that local marine seaweed collected at Labrador Park, Singapore could be used to remove copper from water under the competitive binding effect from the cationic ammonium ion. The project … More Things that I learned from my UROP project

General methodologies for tackling research problems in adsorption of heavy metals

October 31, 2022

This blog post uses an illustrative example to explain the use of batch kinetic and equilibrium adsorption experiments to determine critical parameters and sorbent behaviour towards particular substances in water. Consider the case of ammonium compounds in natural water matrixes. Typically, ammonium compounds are present in low concentrations in many environmental matrices. Positively charged, ammonium … More General methodologies for tackling research problems in adsorption of heavy metals

Soil composition is specific for each locality

September 13, 2022

Soil is composed of a complex mixture of inorganic material and organic compounds. In terms of organic compounds, different types of fulvic acid and humic acid are dominant in soil composition. These compounds arise from the decomposition of organic matter by microbes in soil. Given the dependence of microbial growth on environmental and nutritional factors, … More Soil composition is specific for each locality

Vanadium flow batteries may provide a good alternative for lithium ion batteries for grid level storage

August 27, 2022

Incorporating more renewable energy into the electricity grid pose important challenges with respect to maintaining constant supply of electricity, and enabling grid-level stability. This pertains to the intermittency of many renewable source of power such as solar and wind power, where excess generation may occur during times of high insolation or strong winds, as well … More Vanadium flow batteries may provide a good alternative for lithium ion batteries for grid level storage

Aircraft based air quality field studies are still relevant to help calibrate and validate satellite air quality measurements

March 20, 2022

Satellites have revolutionized our approach towards performing atmospheric research. Specifically, satellites afford unprecedented reach and coverage for large areas of the globe previously inaccessible to air quality field studies. Different parameters could be measured and data collected that help build sophisticated models for air quality in particular locale over different timescales. But, these data needs … More Aircraft based air quality field studies are still relevant to help calibrate and validate satellite air quality measurements

Modern ICP-MS could detect nanoparticles in water matrixes

March 12, 2022

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is traditionally associated with the fast, accurate, and multiplex detection of multiple elements at trace levels in water matrixes. But, given the prevalence of nanoparticles in consumer products in recent years, there is a need for monitoring the presence of these nanoparticles in environmental water matrixes. This then motivates … More Modern ICP-MS could detect nanoparticles in water matrixes

Industrial separation accounts for substantial fraction of a country’s energy use

July 17, 2021

Separation is a critical process in chemical industries that in addition to helping produce a quality product at specified purity levels, also play an important role in preprocessing industrial feedstocks for reaction. Current separation technologies in use in the chemical industries are mostly thermal driven, where energy is needed to help bring forth a separation. … More Industrial separation accounts for substantial fraction of a country’s energy use

Storage of compressed air in saline aquifers represents a form of energy storage

December 23, 2020

Renewable energy such as wind and solar power suffers from one major limitation: their intermittency. While the problem could be ameliorated with the coupling of large storage batteries with wind or solar power generation facilities, there remains a need to find low cost, durable, high capacity and robust methods for storing excess electricity generated by … More Storage of compressed air in saline aquifers represents a form of energy storage

Optimal proportion of renewable energy in energy mix for maximising energy resilience and reducing carbon emissions

November 6, 2020

Increasing use of renewable energy such as solar and wind power could help us reduce carbon emissions and is an approach for helping cities, states and countries to decarbonise their economies. However, renewable energy’s intermittency nature such as those associated with solar and wind energy meant that its increasing use carries significant risks for energy … More Optimal proportion of renewable energy in energy mix for maximising energy resilience and reducing carbon emissions